Lolita And The Dark Tower

Thesis: Edgar Allan Poe led a life filled with sorrow and pain. His works tend to reflect his lifestyle by incorporating darker elements in the usage of his characters.

Dr. Stanton Samenow wrote, “You cannot be other than who you are. A crime that appears out of character can be understood only by discerning what the character of the individual truly is”. Deciphering the characteristics that will identify a criminal can be very situational. Criminal actions all depend on who they decide to be in the world around them. For law breakers like Humbert Humbert, appeasing his pedohilia’s urges becomes his main goal once setting his eyes on his landlord’s daughter, Dolores. Although Humbert recognizes the harm in his sexual affections, he cannot be other than who he is. He pursues Lolita relentlessly, gaining her trust to eventually abusive her pacifism. In Vladimir Nabokov’s famous novel, Lolita, Humbert Humbert

Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, a lack of empathy for other people, and a need for admiration. Both General Zaroff from “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, and Fortunato from “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe exhibit these qualities, when General Zaroff killed his prey and when Montresor got revenge on Fortunato. They were too absorbed in themselves to see how their humanity was impaired. In both texts, the authors utilize a violent conflict, an isolated setting, and vivid characterization to illustrate how excessive pride can distort one’s judgement, demonstrating the importance of humility and humaneness.

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.

The relationship between Annabel and Humbert is one marked with sexual restraint. Humbert describes an important sexual encounter, when they escaped to a mimosa grove while their chaperones play bridge, in great depth and it is this encounter that haunts Humbert for the rest of his life. Shortly after this moment, Annabel is called away by her mother and Humbert never gets to reach his sexual climax. He also never sees Annabel again because she dies of typhus four months later. Because of her death, Annabel is kept sacred and perfect in Humbert’s memory. The unsuccessful first tryst plagues the rest of Humbert’s relationships with women. Ellen Pifer reiterates this in her book, Demon and Doll, saying that “It is Humbert’s longing for the unattainable, for ideal perfection – what he calls the ‘rosegray never-to-be-had’ – that fires his imagination and fuels his desire for nymphet beauty” (68). This unattainable perfection which Pifer speaks of appears to be the ever-young Annabel.

Furthermore, the next example is when the About Edgar Allan Poe text states, “He was attached to Frances who was so much like the biological mother he had loss” (2). This explains that his adoptive mother had practically became as close as his biological mother, and she inspired his writing just as much. Frances inspired his view of women as angels, as she treated him much kinder than her husband who abandoned Poe financially, and for that he felt she deserved respect. Additionally, her death from tuberculosis most likely inspired his similar story, The Masque of The Red Death. The final example is when the Poe Biography article claims, “His young cousin, Virginia, became a literary inspiration to Poe as well as his love interest. The couple married in 1836” (3). This illustrates perfectly how the women in Edgar’s life inspired him and his literature. It shows how, unlike the men in his life, women were angelic figures of grace, and muses that inspired beauty in his writings. In conclusion, in the world of Edgar Allan Poe, the women in his life have treated him significantly better than the

Since Romanticism often places emphasis on the importance of emotion, Romantics may use dream imagery to display the overflow of abundant feelings. Such is the case with Edgar Allen Poe’s “Ligeia”. While Poe’s themes are usually Romantic, “Ligeia” uses dreams to “[dramatize] the romantic's disenchantment with a world drained of its power to arouse joy and a sense of elevated being” (Gargano 338). The fine line of fantasy vs reality is blurred and bestows multiple versions of reality as the narrator slowly descends into madness. Poe’s use of dream imagery is prominent during the descriptions of the house, the narrators reminiscences of his first wife Ligeia, and his opium induced hallucinations. The use of this literary device demonstrates how the loss of Ligeia messes with the narrator's sanity and sense of fulfillment in his life. These dreams enable him to revisit Ligeia“out of [his] own self-consciousness” (Lawrence).

In chapter 3, he explains there are two different ways of remember people. There's recreating an image in your head while awake and there's recreating in your head with the great memories rushing through your head. Humbert uses parenthesis to explain the differences. He says, "and then I see Annabelle.)" when explaining [the open eye way.] He goes on and says," (and this is how I see Lolita)" after explaining the in depth way. He uses the parenthesis [to make you stop and think of how he thinks of both of them]. From the context, you [can pick out he liked] Lolita [a lot more than] Annabelle; although this [may be] the case, he uses Annabelle as an excuse for his love for Lolita. H.H. writes," All I want to stress is that my discovery of her was a fatal consequence of that 'princedom by the sea' in my tortured past." He writes this because he wants to make you think about [who it could be]. He uses "" around princedom by the sea [to make you] consider [who he could be talking about.] He's saying losing Annabelle "by the sea" [was what] caused him to love little

Eric Goldman argues that while Humbert attempt to make Lolita into a sexual deviant that corrupted him, Nabokov instead, suggest that she is a normal female that is experimenting with her sexuality. He starts with explaining Humbert attempting to make Lolita in a sexual deviant, then he states that after its publication “many of the critics Humbert Humbert’s misogynistic interpretation of Lolita” (Goldman 87). Goldman believe that Lolita “sexual development is warped by a maniacal, myth-making pedophile” (88). Humbert makes Lolita into a deviant to justify his behavior towards her.

This essay will discuss the themes in Poe’s writing that mirror his personal life and, in addition, the fear and supernatural motivators for his characters. First, I will discuss Poe’s background and explore how he became best known as a poet for his tales of mystery and macabre.

The concept of dark inner workings of the human mind is extremely prevalent in Romantic works. Specifically, “morbid” and “sentimental melancholy” are common (Holman and Harmon). Characters are likely to be emotionally disturbed, and this is a Romantic characteristic that Poe employs rather often during the characterization of his protagonists. This is evident in “The Cask of Amontillado” where Montresor, an unreliable neighbor, utilizes reverse psychology to seek revenge. Once revenge has been achieved, Montresor shows no remorse or guilt, which is yet another characteristic of Poe’s work and Romantic

In this essay, I’m going to compare and contrast Dahl’s and Poe’s short stories “The Landlady” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, but first I’m going to compare Dahl’s and Poe’s childhood experiences. Both Poe and Dahl experienced death in their childhood and they both didn’t had a father figure in their lives. Poe lost his mother, foster mom and his wife to TB, his father died of alcoholism and abandoned him, and his wife inspired one of his work. Dahl lost his father and his sisters to a illness, he had a close relationship with his mother, his mother was a mystic and told fortunes, and the Norwegian fairy tale from his mother inspired his work.

This semester was packed with new readings on levels I had yet experienced. I was introduced to new cultures, lifestyles, and the histories attached. These poems and novels all contained the most unique characters, all of who experienced the most unusual situations. There was not a character that could match another, each expressing different talents, flaws, and desires. Amongst our readings, one character sat on my mind. Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits had an assortment of characters, with Esteban Trueba catching my attention the most. He is a drastically flawed man who craves power, wealth, women, and even love. This project has caused me to question myself, as I am curious to why I would want to do a project on such a control freak. I have concluded that I am drawn to Esteban as a character because of his flaws, but also due to his ability to claim what he wants, whether he is in the right or the wrong. He is the only character that survives through the entire book, changing rapidly over the years. My understanding of Esteban has led me to express his character through art.

This literature has been the cause for celebration, even being included in required literature for high schoolers today. Books such as The Great Gatsby have inspired people to keep living, despite the everyday struggles. However, some infinities were not meant to be. Ernest Hemingway’s spark was snuffed by his own hand, and Fitzgerald undone by his own heart, believing himself to be a failure. Through these instances, writing seems to be inexpressibly linked with the darkness of humanity, but can create the brightest of horizons. Perhaps this is why a raven is like a writing desk? because the raven, although dark, can create light through the intervention of the writing desk? Two characters, so alike yet so different, seem to personify this juxtaposition of being. Lily from The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger both share and differ in traits in regards to their

World famous poet, Edgar Allan Poe, once wrote in one of his poems, “From childhood’s hour I have not been. As others were, I have not seen. As others saw, I could not awaken. My heart to joy at the same tone. And all I loved, I loved alone.” In those lines, Poe demonstrates his love for being alone because his childhood was full of isolation, meaning that the writer grew used to the feeling. Since boyhood throughout his adult life, Edgar Allan Poe endured through a series of unfortunate events. From his parents dying, his animosity with his foster father, his consecutive poverty, to facing rejection from the public, the man’s life was as ominous as his fiction. This essay will discuss the reason behind the writing of one of Edgar Allan