Excuses
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita attempts to cushion the actions of the main character's actions through eloquent prose and a series of blatant avoidances. It is true that people of influence and of great minds in the past did things that are considered inexcusable; yet he tosses the idea that this creates an actual excuse, a practical plea for Humbert and his plights in dealing with predatory behavior. Furthermore, the main character, Humbert Humbert (H.H.), reflects back on his past experiences as a youth, claiming that his passion with his young love that was cut short has haunted him for his life; that he wanted to recreate the girl he fell for when he was a boy. "...And that little girl with her seaside limbs and ardent tongue haunted me ever since- until at last, twenty-four years late, I broke her spell by incarnating her in another" (Nabokov, 15). Supposedly he found that long-lost love in his "Lolita".
He claims that he attempted to be a good person, that he tried to avoid his temptations, but the opposite is evident. H.H. marries a woman that he was barely tolerant of, and he continues to see questionably aged prostitutes. His entire marriage crumbles, not to anyone's surprise.
It is true that he realizes that he has a problem and that his desires and actions are not suited to morals or common society, but he continuously takes it upon himself to seek what is taboo, whether consciously or not.
What do you think spurred H.H. to ignore his marriage if he was so desperate to get married?
Why do you believe that H.H. thinks himself to be bored with women?
Do you think H.H. convicts himself out of knowing he was in the wrong, or because he is trying to convince the readers/court room of something?
Doesn't seem like that to me. HH seems to play the hand he was dealt with admitting his guilt only acts as a perception of innocence. Whether not he believes it it seems he goes so far to play innocent and the martyr so people may pity him
ReplyDeleteHe was desperate to get married to cover up his desire for "nymphets", which i think this word is chosen to cushion the fact that they're really children and acts to sexualize the child nymphet sounds so sexualized. The prose and way he tells his story does try to evoke a sort of pity from the audience, and though he did confess to his crimes, we can't trust this account because its all from first person. I think the confession is a true confession, but the way it's constructed is basically trying to paint himself as this restrained suffering conscious predator always on the edge of society because of his desires, which isn't the truth since he willingly seeks out these children.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is some disconnect with him not fulfilling his first love desire, so he continues to want to relive in those moments. The love for "nymphets" seems to be more than just a fad, its a desire, and obsession, his ultimate thrill. I feel like he is trying to satisfy his need, but the more he gets the more he wants.
ReplyDeleteI think that the reason why he wanted to get married was because he hoped that a wife would help distract him from the children since he knew that it wasn't socially acceptable to be with the kids to begin with. maybe he was bored with women because they all seemed the same, predictable, and always wanting to be married where as children live in a world of their own and are unpredictable. I think that he knows that he is wrong because in certain spots, he tries to hold himself back that is why he got married in the first place, as a distraction.
ReplyDeleteSebastian-
ReplyDeleteI feel HH is trying to convince the reader to feel some sort of sympathy for him or at least convince them that he wasn't just attacking small children. He uses some type of ideal catogory he labels some female children with, "nymphets", which inside his age limit of targets 9-14, he describes them as sometype nymphic, that bewitched travelers in a nonhuman type of way"(Nabokov 16). He dehumanizing or tries to stray away the fact that he targets small female-human childrentries, so he seems less like he is doing something bad. I majority feel it's like he his pleading the insanity case on the terms of him not understanding his targets are just regular children instead of these creatures of trickery he dubbed them to be.