Self-Control

Kayla Reid

People consider Lolita to be obscene because of the love Humbert Humbert has for a young girl. Throughout the book, he describes innocent meetings with Lolita using sexual dialogue “… a yellowish violet bruise on her lovely nymphet thigh which my huge hairy hand messaged and slowly enveloped- and because of her perfunctory underthings, there seemed to be nothing to prevent my muscular thumb from reaching to the hot hollow of her groin…”  (Nabokov, 61) why is the dialogue so upsetting? Is it because a reader can envision their little girl as being Lolita? For parents, they want to protect their children keeping them from rapists that could physiologically traumatize them is a sensitive issue that still happens today. What is also unsettling is how innocent Lolita is and I think that for the reader to watch her be taken advantage of my older man is offensive to most. Lolita is like every other child that parents can relate to. If I found out that a guy like Humbert was taking advantage of someone I knew, I would be upset because I want to protect someone so innocent. Lolita is a young girl who does not know anything about what Humbert is doing. Another upsetting factor is that Humbert has a wife yet, he still chooses Lolita whom he can’t be with.  A lot of people think that Lolita’s mom is acceptable because she is a grown woman. Humbert asks that  “… the majority of sex offenders that hanker for some throbbing, sweet-moaning, physical, but not necessarily coital, relation with a girl child, are … passive, timid, strangers who merely ask the community to allow them to pursue their practically harmless,… their little hot wet private acts of sexual deviation without the police and society cracking down on them.” shows that Humbert thinks that his acts are harmless and ok yet he knows that he is in the wrong since society will not let him. People will worry about Lolita since she has no means of protecting herself. She is also innocent and has no idea neither what his happening to her nor how serious it is yet Humbert claims, “We are not sex fiends! We do not rape as good soldiers do.” ( Nabokov, 88). The thing about a little girl is that they are going to go along with it some of the time since they are so innocent where as an older woman will fight back since she knows what is happening. Although Humbert claims that he has self-control, his desire and passion suggests otherwise. Because he is so overwhelmed with sexual desire, the reader might question if he has the self-control to resist his temptations.

“Do you think that Humbert was being too sexual when he rubbed Lolita’s bruise? Why or why not?

Is Humbert still a rapist even though Lolita may not protest nor reject him? Why or why not?

Because Lolita is so innocent now, how do you think she will be affected when she gets older and realizes Hubert’s sexual advances?