How Does Nabokov Use Language In Lolita

He manipulative's people out of their money by promising to save their souls when in fact he does not have that control. He also has tendencies of gluttony because of his heavy drinking. His physical appearance can be described as a face covered in pustules framed by bushy eyebrows and narrow, deep set eyes. The outwear appearance of his being is frightening to many and his breath even more grotesque then his face. He is dishonest, manipulative, and simply unethical. His motivations are nothing but filled with greed and lies.

Furthermore, as Lolita can be considered an open text and this paper is concerned with bringing female perspectives to the forefront of the novel, it is reasonable to apply traditional feminist theory to the text to examine Humbert’s marginalisation of women. In particular, this reading will be formulated through applying the work of second-wave feminist Kate Millett, which focuses on exposing the reprehensibility of patriarchal oppression. To begin, Nabokov consistently constructs Humbert to display misogynistic views. To illustrate this, in the scene where Humbert recalls his sexual excitement when Dolores laid across his lap, he fantasizes about being ‘a radiant and robust Turk…enjoying the youngest and frailest of his slaves.’ Due to the reader’s knowledge of Humbert’s affinity for ‘nymphets,’ whom he defines as girls between the age of nine and fourteen, it can be deduced that these ‘slaves’ are female. The word ‘frail’ holds connotations of debility, fragility and vulnerability. Through these negative associations, Nabokov has positioned readers to understand that Humbert views women as inferior to men. This holds relevance to Millett’s theory of female inferiority, through which she explains that ‘the female’s inferior status’ is ‘ascribed to her physical weakness or intellectual inferiority.’ Millett published her work in 1969 during the second wave feminist movement, whereby women demanded equality and challenged patriarchal ideologies regarding sexuality,

In Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita”, the titular secondary character, is used to satisfy Humbert Humbert’s (also known as H.H.) nymphet fantasies. Dolores Haze, or Lolita as H.H. calls her, is immediately stripped of her innocence. Lolita is not responsible for her experience because her being and actions are turned into perversions by H.H, and the relationship between H.H. and Lolita are skewed and ultimately normalized; however, she is responsible when she runs away from H.H., gaining control of her life once more. These pivotal events unfold before Lolita and directly affect her experience as a child and young adolescent. It was through chance that Humbert Humbert met Lolita.

Humbert’s fantasy takes away her adolescence not allowing her to live her life properly. She doesn’t have a say in the novel shown by the fact that she has no dialogue in the novel. Another example, when Humbert's describes Lolita when they play tennis. “She was once an innocent but sexually experienced 12-year-old.” Lolita had been sexually active with a boy at camp. Humbert has interfered with Lolita’s development. She lacks complete self-awareness throughout the novel. Humbert steals Lolita’s sense of self.

This results in the narrative perspective of the novel demonstrating how Humbert attempts to conceal his true nature through, in his own mind, clever ‘adjustments’ to how the story is presented and references to historical figures who shared the same desires as him- ‘Oh Lolita, you are my girl, as Vee was Poe’s and Bea Dante’s’ (Nabokov 1955), yet often reverts to a disposition in which he laments about his monstrous desires. Not only this, but the comparison to famous literary greats suggests that Humbert considers himself to be of their status and thus possesses an idolized version of himself, a self which can easily transform language into ploys to conceal his true nature.

Best exhibited in Vladimir Nabokov's novel, Lolita, such deceitfulness is most displayed through our corrupter, Humbert Humbert's

This has occurred in society before where criminals convicted of murder simply blame it on their Schizophrenia or Bipolar disorder. Barbara Straumann, when analyzing the relationship between young Humbert and his lover Annabel, states, “Yet, if the Annabel story is one of his fakes, it is fabricated to deceive himself...thinking about the cause of ‘the rift in my life’ giving rise, or rather arousing, his ‘excessive desire’ for underage girls” (94). Here, Straumann explores the unreliability of Humbert’s narration by claiming his story of Annabel as simply an excuse for his actions. Child molesters blaming their actions on traumas in the past was exactly the event critics fear if the ideas in Lolita become widespread. Proceeding from mental disorders, Humbert brings up his other “side” who mistreated Lolita. This ushers in dissociative identity disorder to the novel, another illegitimate excuse critics believe can be used as a justification for child molestation. Mark Nicholls also finds Humbert’s admission of another personality. He states, “For in Humbert, from the beginning, there is that other side of his personality, the side in which sexuality...bound up with the pursuit of perversion” (162). Additionally, critics claim Nabokov characterizes Humbert so he is able to mask his evil nature behind his eloquence and charm. Humbert recounts

Lolita is filled with including rape, pedophile, incest, and sordid subject. As audience or “the jury” as the narrator Humbert Humbert reference to us, we can see that Humbert is a clover egotism, murder, and pedophile as he describes himself though out the novel. Humbert and Dolores or as our narrator referee to as Lolita are our two main characters in the novel. As “the jury” Humbert successfully make himself appeal a sympathetic

Then there is Lolita, nymphet Lolita with whom Humbert is so madly infatuated. His “love” of Dolores Haze is nothing more than a sick obsession that grows out of control, crossing boundaries that did not even exist prior to the pedophilic relationship. Immediately, it is evident that Lolita is nothing more than a more serious version of his past wives, as “little Lo” is the closet to a nymphet Humbert has been since Annabel. His lust and love for Lolita is nothing more than a mere recreation of his one true love. Though Humbert’s actions may be perceived as an obsession with Lolita herself, it is instead a façade; Humbert still degrades ad objectifies Lolita liekt he rest of the woman he has encountered.

The first word of the passage gives us an example of Nabokov’s ways of writing Lolita; the first word appears to be “Reader!” (308). Nabokov addresses the reader to get the attention of us. Usage of addressing becomes obvious throughout the novel. Changing the direction of who he tells the story helps me better understand Nabokov’s difficult and dense writing. These addresses, which change from us and the jury of the court, give me the opportunity to pay more special attention to what the passage says and what Nabokov hides in these words.

Lolita was an interesting novel, but not for its sexual themes and scenes that most people would be interested in it for. The best part of this novel is how enchantingly yet disgusting it can be. Through the dialogue, the story was able to manipulate the reader to sympathize with a morally-corrupt pedophile. The reader could tell that Humbert was being duped, and when what Lolita had been hiding was revealed, one could understand how Humbert could feel duped. It’s not just that however, Humbert’s character reveals a lot about the complexity a person could have. He is shown to be charming, witty, cultured, and has many positive qualities that in no way excuse his behavior. When reading a book, the person reading often emphasizes with the protagonist

In Nabokov’s Lolita and Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs, asserted male superiority is shown persistently through the idea of manipulation. Within the texts, towering and authoritative character positioning is used to enhance the dominating masculinity of Humbert and Lector. Charlotte Haze becomes obsessed with Humbert to the point where she is “on her knees… clawing at [his] trousers”, alluding to Humbert’s symbolic, dominate masculinity, heavily contrasting to Charlotte’s inferiority as a female. Demme makes a similar point when Clarisse attempts to interview Hannibal Lecter and he immediately urges her to “sit please”, suddenly creating a disparity of power between the two as Lector now looks down on Clarisse. This is extrapolated through Demme’s use of low camera angles to enhance Lector’s dominance and high camera angles to show Clarisse’s inferiority. Through their use of dominant character positioning, both texts employ the idea that men have an initial superiority over women showcased through Humbert and Lector’s controlling actions. Furthermore, both Hannibal Lector and Humbert Humbert assert their dominance as men by manipulating women for selfish desire. After falling in love with the 12-year-old Lolita, Humbert takes advantage of her mother’s obsession with his to get closer to her daughter. By “fake acting” and “making up stories about books” Humbert creates an appealing façade to Haze, that he uses to manipulate her with his attraction, to be closer with Lolita. Similarly, Clarisse interrogates Lector to which he agrees to terms on a “quid pro quo” basis, where he would

If Humbert failed to convince her, they might have questioned who should take custody of Lolita thus ending Humbert’s plans. Seeing that Humbert can convince others of untruthful things there is no guarantee in the legitimacy of what he tells the reader. Making it difficult for readers to believe his defense.

In Valdimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Dolores Haze, also known as Lolita, is an innocent, but sexually experienced twelve-year-old girl,

Vladimir Nabokov, one of the 20th century’s greatest writers, is a highly aesthetic writer. Most of his work shows an amazing interest in and talent for language. He deceptively uses language in Lolita to mask and make the forbidden divine. Contextually, Lolita may be viewed as a novel about explicit sexual desire. However, it is the illicit desire of a stepfather for his 12-year old stepdaughter. The novel’s subject inevitably conjures up expectations of pornography, but there in not a single obscene term in Lolita. Nabokov portrays erotic scenes and sensual images with a poetic sensibility that belies the underlying meaning of the words. The beautiful manipulation of language coerces one to understand Humbert’s interdict act of