While I understand that Humbert Humbert has an obsession with young girls, I
do not understand his passion for Lolita. What makes her so different from the
other girls that HH
has preyed upon? His infatuation with her began just as any of his other
romances with children started; he saw her and thought she was beautiful. So, I
understand when he pursued her that he was attracted to her and her nymph ways
but what kept him going after he got what he wanted? Lolita's attitude was
nothing but snotty and rude. She had no positive attributes to her personality.
Humbert Humbert's love has no reason. Lolita, to me, is just a mature, rude,
sexually advanced girl. She enjoyed the chase; she liked the attention. She led
him on and kept up the game. But she was just using him. She was no novice to
this and Humbert was not her first sexual partner. She was even rude to HH in
later years. She says the Humbert raped her and even when she moves away and
marries Dick Schiller, she just uses him and asks for money while HH was still
in love with her. Humbert The Sexy could obviously do much better-- Whether it
is with another little nymph or someone his age. Either way, I feel Lolita has
nothing to offer to HH and he is wasting his time on her.
One could argue that Lolita, is Humbert Humberts's first love - Annabel's doppelganger. What made Lolita different from any other "nymph" he has pursued is that Lolita may have brought back memories of Annabel. Lolita was Humbert's key to escape reality and re-live the cherished moments he had with his beloved Annabel. The connection between Annabel and Lolita is only physical; they are both, personality wise, polar opposites. The physical attraction drew Humbert to Lolita, but her manipulative and sadistic ways kept Humbert hooked. You can ask why he stayed with Lolita since she caused him so much heartache, but he might have been afraid to lose his key to his only true love, Annabel.
ReplyDeleteWell, seeing as to how his love affair with Anabel was many many years ago, I do not see why Humbert Humbert needs to hold on for so long. As far as I am concerned he should not care anymore. HH is obviously a disturbed human being and he needs help if he is searching out a lost love in small children. I even doubt he was in love with Anabel, he was just 12 years old, 12 year olds cannot be in love in my mind. But even if one argues that he did love Anabel, a mentally stable person would not seek out another small child to relive his lost love. HH should have let go of both Anabel and Lolita and moved on.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think Lolita is very manipulative. She understands what Humbert Humbert wants and needs sexually and she gives it to him enough that she eventually has him on a leash. She is shown to be very blatant and doesn't really care about Humbert's feelings. Lolita does whatever she wants and Humbert is very vulnerable, and does not take charge like an adult. Humbert Humbert enables Lolita to take advantage of him at any chance she gets. Humbert Humbert gets zero respect from Lolita, so why is he so in love?
ReplyDeleteI really like the point you made, Ally. I think it’s a good point that could use further exploration. Humbert Humbert is an adult, Lolita is just a child but who seems to carry the most weight and authority in the relationship? Lolita. In fact, Humbert does not appear to be an adult on any level. He does not have a job, he is in love with a child and is stuck in the past with his memories of Annabel. He lets Lolita take control over him, his decisions and his mind. He is neither mature nor a reliable adult.
ReplyDeleteOne could think that Humbert Humbert did have more of an attraction to Lolita, despite the age, because as, as you said, she was more advanced when it came to a sexual relationship. Whose to say that she wasn’t more mature mentally as well? We only ever heard what Humbert Humbert thought and saw, it was all told from what his mind saw, so in his mind he could have seen Lolita as an adult. Do not get me wrong, the whole relationship is terrible for all they do is fight and have sex. But I keep going back to the concept that the whole story is told from the mind of Humbert Humbert, so in his mind there must have been something that made him love her.
ReplyDeleteI think Humbert Humbert was so obsessed with Lolita because she gave in to him. Other girls did not allow HH to explore them. Also because Lolita was hidden from him by her mother, she became forbidden fruit. "You always want what you can't have". Then once Lolita's mother died she was in a way legally all his. Even if she did not want to sleep with him, he could have made her. And the fact that Lolita was the one to "show" HH how to have sex probably made her different. She engaged him on his feelings. HH interpreted these actions as love and convinced himself that he was in love with her and there would be no one better.
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