I feel like
I’m definitely going to have some people verbally attacking me for this one,
but the topic of incest has been bothering me since Charlotte died. I
understand that Humbert Humbert committed numerous illegal and sickening crimes
and I am most definitely not attempting to defend him in any way, but I can’t
agree with the constant accusations of incest. Just to make sure, I looked up
the legal definition of the word.
According to
legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com, incest is: sexual
intercourse between close blood relatives, including brothers and sisters,
parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, or aunts or uncles with
nephews or nieces.
Although Humbert Humbert is viewed as a father figure by his
friends, his acquaintances and Lolita, he is not her father by blood. Humbert
became Lolita’s step father because he wanted to remain near her. He never
desired to be her father and even if he did, it would still not be enough to
categorize their relationship as incest. I can understand how characters in the
book could assume that it is incest because Humbert convinced them that he was
Lolita’s true father, but I think that the readers and Lolita should know
better. Even Lolita refers to her relations with Humbert as “incest” towards
the beginning of their relationship. I personally do not understand why she
would accuse Humbert and herself of something even more vulgar than they are already
doing. Once again, I feel the need to stress that I am not justifying
pedophilia in any way. I’m just attempting to correct a common
misinterpretation.
I had the same thoughts, Brianne. Incest is actually between people who are blood related really. What HH and Lolita were doing was not necessarily incest. However, I believe that Lolita just referred to it as incest to annoy Humbert Humbert. She wanted to make him feel disgusted. Maybe she was into that sort of thing. Maybe it excited her. I believe she had her reasons. Maybe she wanted him to get riled up; she thought it excited him.
ReplyDeleteOr on the flip side, maybe she felt pressured and this was her way of maybe trying to get HH to back off. She thought if she made him feel as guilty as possible maybe he would stop chasing her.
Either way, Lolita and Humbert Humbert's relationship was not actual incest.
I understand and respect your thoughts, Brianne. I presume the public is persistent in their accusations because they find Humbert Humbert and Lolita’s to be atrocious and unacceptable and find if they were to label their relationship as incest, they would automatically place a certain image on him and destroy his reputation. However, I happen to agree in a way. While they may not be blood related, they are close they may as well be. Personally, I was raised one does not have to be blood related to be family which gives me the mindset of someone who is either an adopted or “step” child to have the same relationship as that of a child born into a family. The same for me applies to Lolita and Humbert Humbert.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Lolita’s claim to Humbert Humbert committing incest, I feel as though she was being spiteful. I am not sure if at her age she would know the complete details as to what incest is. While she may hear of it in school or camp, I do not think children completely grasp many matters such as that. Then again, Lolita is intelligent in her own ways and was forced to grow up quicker than that of a normal child due to her active sex life and the death of her mother. Her proclaiming the relationship between her and Humbert Humbert may be a way in which she tries to further control Humbert Humbert in hopes he would keep her comment in mind and she could use it knowing he may be fearful of being caught. Then again, I presume he can use the actual definition of incest to defend himself, or disown Lolita and act as if he has no relations with her. I do not know, I guess his accusation of incest can go either way. I comprehend both arguments.