Lolita Essay

Margaret Atwood begins her essay by explaining the distinction between mild pornorgraphy, which portrays the nude form and sexual activities, and violent pornography, which depicts extremely violent activities in a sexual manner. When discussing pornography, people often assume Atwood is referring to mild pornography; however, even though this pornography is considered “mild” by Atwood, the reactions and perspectives from people are rarely mild. The passionate accusations declaring opposing sides “prudish” or “perverted” lead to the question of what is the meaning of pornography, if there is any? Whether it

On one side, the Lisbon sisters lose their grip on what innocence truly means, allowing themselves to get caught in the fast moving pace of their youth. Without any outlet for their self-expression, they take their own lives out of pain and grief. The religious references and lively imagery paradoxically describe the lack of morality and the ultimate loss of life. Lo is no longer “Dolores on the dotted line,” but Lolita through and through (11). Humbert ripped her childlike innocence from her delicate fingertips, creating a wandering soul without roots.

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.

A great poem shocks us into another order of perception. It points beyond language to something still more essential. It ushers us into an experience so moving and true that we feel at ease. In bad or indifferent poetry, words are all there is. Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” is a great poem, not because it is popular or it is classic, but because of its underlining message. “Annabel Lee” is a poem of death, love, and beauty. It captures the narrator’s interpretation of these three ideas through his feelings and thoughts for one woman. The narrator, Edgar Allan Poe, becomes infatuated at a young age with the character in the poem, Annabel Lee. Even after she passes away, his love for her only increases and only becomes

Accepting environments on the other hand, allow for the creation of imagination and personal connections. Nafisi in her “Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran” speaks about the creation of her reading group, and provides the type of education she desired to provide as an educator but was restricted to provide based on the Iranian regime. The Iranian society oppresses against women, forcing them to conform to societal norms. On the other hand, Nafisi introduces her students to a fantasy like environment during their literature class. This allows for the connection amongst the girls and Nafisi to be personal. The idea of connection can be done while making a comparison between the women in Iran and characters within a novel Nafisi discussed with her students. Nafisi states:

The show “I Love Lucy” was shot from 1951 to 1960; only six years after World War Two had ended. During the war there was a lack of men in the United States to do all the physical labor and common office jobs. Women were then given the opportunity to escape the boundaries of the private sphere of their homes and go out into the workforce. Although, after the war was over and the men came back to the United States the women, who were then used to working and being the breadwinners of the family, were forced back into their homes being told they were too delicate or incapable of doing the jobs that they had already been doing for years. The comedy show, “I Love Lucy” made light fun of the women's efforts to move from the private sphere to the

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,

The two passages, written by Humbert Humbert, describes two of his ‘nymphet’ loves. In the passage, both Annabelle and Lolita gets introduced. Read the passages carefully. Then, write an essay that compares H.H.’s perspective of the two characters to show his feelings on both of them.

The point of view of Lolita is not unusual, what causes the emotional response is in fact who the narrator is. Humbert Humbert, the narrator, is a murdering pedophile, this perspective can initially be disturbing and even stopped a lot of potential readers from actually reading the book. In the article “Romantic parody and the ironic muse in 'Lolita.'” Brian Walter addresses how the author manipulated readers views on an admittedly criminal character. Walter claims that “If the romantic parody criticizes Humbert, it flatters him as well, to the point that, in Trilling's terms, "we find ourselves the more shocked when we realize that, in the course of reading the novel, we have come virtually to condone the violation it presents" (331).” Walter uses a quote from Trilling’s "The Last Lover." to defend his claim that readers do end up feeling a sense of sympathy towards a character that forms a

Dogs are known to have over 200 moveable or semi-movable joints in their body, and they must have comfortably freely moving joints throughout their life. Dr. Steve Allday, equine veterinarian specializing in lameness and sports medicine was the first developer of LubriSynHA. Dr. Allday’s idea was to keep synovial fluid healthy by protecting it from normal wear and tear by providing what he called “around-the-clock support of joint fluid.” Synovial fluid, or more commonly known as synovia is a fluid found in the cavities of synovia joints. Their purpose is to reduce the amount of friction between the surfaces of bones.

In this memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, there is undeniably a theme of oppression. Through censorship, parts of books, films, and even news is prohibited if it is considered politically unacceptable or against the Islamic religion. In the text, an irony appears as the chief film censor in Iran was blind up until 1994 (page 24). An assistant would help him explain the acts on stage. The successor who would soon follow was not blind but followed the same system under the “colorless lenses.” This memoir goes on later to explain how any slight gestures, even literary works, could be considered under political terms. This goes hand-in-hand with sexual freedom as one could not freely be expressed as it could perpetuate sexuality condemned by the

The search term, “Literary exploration of lesbian desire” yields three pages of results for pornography, erotica, and sexually explicit pictures. This perception of lesbianism as erotic extends throughout mainstream society, with images of lesbianism targeted to heterosexual men in advertising, film, and pornography. Lesbianism in literature has long served either as the pornographic subject of male voyeurism or subjects to be condemned by heterosexual authors—and in many cases, both. The genre lesbian realism is one that arises out of the revolutions of the 1960s in an attempt to combat pulp fiction narratives. Fundamentally, these works must take on a perverse meaning; their foundation in traditional literature style, even simply being a

Society is the binding force between people within a community. Different cultures spawn different societies, but they all share something in common: a set of rules and expectations to fulfill. When people fail to fulfill these expectations, often their community reacts negatively towards them and this is a common problem in society today. For example, many communities are not accepting of those who have differing religions from that of their own. The conflict that arises from societies is also a common topic in literature. Two novels that deal with a clash between characters and their society are A Clockwork Orange and Lolita. The two novels may have differing genres, settings, themes, and characters, yet they still share certain similarities. Though seemingly different upon first impression, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange have something in common: deceptive voice via first person narration, narrators who share similar views on the acceptability of sex and violence within society, and an unreliability in the protagonists’ recollection of events.

Lolita's primary frame, and the most persistently reductive, is that of the nymphet. Humbert claims that this category is not his own creation but a specific natural quality to which he has assigned a clever name. It is well defined, if difficult to accurately describe, and it pre-exists its members:

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