Analysis of Lolita

The story Lolita is revolved completely around a manuscript writing by a man named Humbert Humbert, who describes his strange love story from his childhood up until death. He begins by recounting his childhood in Riviera where he fell completely in love with a girl named Annabel. But due to the unfortunate event of the girl and his mother’s death, Humbert must move to England to continue a life on his own. For a good amount of time, he lives a satisfying life with a stable job and home, but every now and then he goes in a state of depression remembering his past. When a widow named Charlotte Haze offers her home to him to help with his lonesome self, he accepts and moves him, only to run into another problem. Lolita, Charlotte’s 12 year old daughter, becomes the new obsession and lust of Humbert’s adult life. His sexual desire for her youth and looks drives him crazier every day; for he knows he can’t do anything with her mother in the same house. After many months of living together Haze accidentally discovers Humbert’s journal filled with disturbing, erotic fantasies about her daughter. Reacting like any concerned mother would, she confronted him about it, and was sadly murdered. Now this was Humbert’s chance to claim Lolita as his and travel with her across the country. The both of them now realize what attraction they have towards each other despite their age and begin to settle down as a normal family. (Or technically, a normal “couple”.) Their relationship was going smooth for about 4 months until Lolita was kidnapped by another older man, Quilty, who was also obsessed and consumed by her. Heartbroken, Humbert spends 2 years tracking him down only to discover that Lolita had fallen in love with him and become pregnant. He shoots Quilty out of his rage of emotions and ends up in jail where he dies of stress and heart failure.

The story first takes place in 1947-1952 in Europe shortly after World War 2. (Nabokov, 5) The family he is born in is wealthy, so...