Lolita

Lolita Response 1

In Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Humbert is trying to plead his case. His smart and alluring nature gives him the power to figure out precisely what he needs to use to get his way. The different ways that Humbert manipulates language is the best defense mechanism that he has.

The jury ultimately decides if Humbert is guilty or not. He applies his language skills to trap the jury, along with anyone else that is in the courtroom listening. Humbert creates an enchanted dream world through his word choice and detailed imagery. He even comes right out and tells the audience that he is creating an “enchanted island” (16). He describes this magical island as a place with “mirrory beaches and rosy rocks” and where nymphets run loose (16). Producing this fantasyland allows the audience to enter the mind of Humbert, thus leaving them open to his manipulation. After trapping the audience on this island with Humbert and the nymphets, Humbert tells his story as if it were a fairy tale about love. He is riding on the hope that the jury will find pity in his love story and simultaneously find him innocent.

Every detail in the story ties together to make a web. This technique adds to Humbert’s appealing personality. The two previously mentioned features of this captivating world, beaches and rocks, are metaphors for other aspects in his story. Being near bodies of water is a recurring scene that Humbert always finds himself in. He is at the beach when he first tries to have sex with Annabel. He is also at the beach when he first thinks of murdering Mrs. Haze. He even fantasizes about Lolita when they are by the pool. These scenes are mirror images of themselves. Humbert always discovers him in a position where he cannot obtain what he wants whenever he is by a body of water. He wants to have sex with Annabel in the cave at the beach but it is interrupted right when he has the chance. He wants to drown Mrs. Haze in the ocean but it is also interrupted. He wants...