While reading
Lolita, it confuses me why Humbert Humbert continuously go backs to the phrase
"ladies and gentlemen of the jury." I don't like that because in the
beginning he gives no specific reasoning behind it. It leaves me to wonder
during the book why he keeps doing this to me. It makes me question if he is
saying it to foreshadow what is to come toward the end of the book; possibly a
trial against him for raping Lolita. There is also the possibility that he is
saying it with deeper meaning; that we are his jury because people are so quick
to judge his actions.
I cannot decipher what exactly he means in this phrasing. If he is
foreshadowing something it makes me wonder... Why is he on trial? Is it because
he got caught raping Lolita? Or did he do something else that is worse? The
questions stay with me the entire time while reading because it is not as if he
only addresses the reader as a jury. He does it multiple times, meaning it has
a purpose.
In another view of it; what if he is not on
trial? What if he is addressing us as a jury because he knows what he does is
wrong? Is he trying to make an appeal to us to make himself look better? This
seems a bit more logical to me because of how he speaks of events that happen.
He makes sure to overemphasize that Lolita is no angel. He speaks of how she
seduces him in a way that does not really fit actions of twelve year olds,
especially in the time period they are in (1950). In this way I feel as if he
is trying to justify his actions to us so we do not think his actions are as
bad. It is true that when anyone hears of pedophilia, their immediate reaction
is disgust; it is how we think as humans. Humbert making this appeal to us is
to lighten our judgment on him and to even pity him in what he did out of
"love."
I think that if Humbert Humbert sees the audience as a jury, than the entire novel can be represented as his testimony; he's just relaying the facts of what happened and it's the audience who has to decide whether he is the bad guy or the good guy. I think he is telling the truth throughout the story, yet I think that he also uses Lolita's assertive attitude to his advantage, making it seem like he would not have started any romantic involvement with her. This makes him look less like a pedophile and more like he's following Lolita's lead.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your second thought Kristin. I think Humber Humbert refers to the reader as the jury because he knows that people are judgmental and will judge him throughout his story. I do not think that Humbert Humbert was caught for anything. Even at the end of the book I still feel like he got away free. The book is more his story for the public to read and not a judge. The book might be a cry for sympathy. Humber Humbert wants someone to agree with him that he is not wrong. That he loved Lolita and what he did was justified. Personally, I do not forgive him and think he is a monster. Because he wrote a book on what happened the reader can make their own decision on whether he is a monster or a love struck old man. I do not see Humbert Humbert writing to a literal jury but more as a plea to your average day person.
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