Nabokov's Lolita And Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho

At first glance, one might find it difficult to draw comparisons between the two protagonists: James Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby, and Humbert Humbert, from Lolita. Gatsby’s is the tragic story of a self-made man who built himself an empire for a woman who would never love him. Humbert Humbert, on the other hand, is a manipulative and witty pervert who lusts after the vulgar nymphet, Lolita. Both men are extremely similar in one key aspect, however. Both Gatsby and Humbert have idealized an encounter from their youth and that idealization has become a driving obsession in each of their lives.

    The relationship between Humbert Humbert and Lolita is no doubt a unique one. Many people who read the novel argue that it is based on "lust", but others say that Humbert really is in "love" with Lolita. However, there is some astounding evidence that Humbert has an obsessional-compulsive disorder with Lolita. The obsession is clearly illustrated when Humbert's actions and behavior are compared to the experts' definitions and descriptions of obsession. In many passages, Humbert displays obsessional tendencies through his descriptive word choice and his controlling personality. Many people are obsessive, so this is not an alien subject. We see it everyday in the entertainment industry as well as in

Nineteen Eighty-Four written by George Orwell and Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol are prophetic social commentaries which explore the broad social wrong of a totalitarian government. Both texts depict a futuristic, dystopian society in which individuality is destroyed in favour of faceless conformity. Niccol and Orwell through the experiences of their protagonists reflect the impact isolation from society has on individuals. The authors of both texts also use their protagonists Winston, who cannot understand the rhetoric of the government party and Vincent, who is trapped, unable to achieve his dreams because of his imperfect genome, to demonstrate individual rebellion against society and explore the significant social injustices of a

In the book Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, to psychoanalyze the main character, Humbert Humbert, would take far too long. His craving for the “nymphets” stems from the loss of his very own childhood love, Annabel. At the age of 12, he fell in love with Annabel. However, before the two young children were ever able to become intimate, Annabel died. Humbert alleges that their failure to consummate their relationship is what impelled Humbert to subconsciously have these sexual wants for nymphets. In psychoanalysis, Freud explains that issues that develop during the time of adulthood are stemmed from instances that occurred during childhood. The inability to have sex with Annabel has become a subconscious turmoil for Humbert and as an adult, he is subconsciously trying to fulfill that void. Conferring

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut takes places on two contrasting planets. One is Earth, where war tears apart families and minds, and the other is Tralfamadore, where supernatural alien beings share their extended knowledge of the world. Vonnegut uses the two planets, Earth and Tralfamadore, to show the contrasting ideas of chaos and order, and that human actions have limitations that render them helpless against a meaningless universe.

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,

She expressed these intentions by singing with George and helping Deborah after she told John that she cheated on him. I do not think that Evelyn’s intentions were clear to Deborah, and I think this is shown when Deborah thinks that her mother is enjoying her seeing her cry. I believe that Evelyn was even trying to make Flor feel comfortable in the Clasky household. I think that Flor understood her intentions and one example is when Flor was trying to learn English. Evelyn was even watching Flor’s English DVD’s with her at one point in the film. Also, at the end of the movie, Evelyn showed that she really cared about Flor by supporting her in her decision to quit her

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

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief are similar in multiple ways. One example being that they both end rather realistically.

When Evelyn agrees to drop the lawsuit against Jake, she insists “let’s just drop the whole thing.” (Polanski); this language choice implies she is thinking beyond the lawsuit, she is asking Jake to forget about everything. Polanski uses this to subtly persuade viewers that Evelyn is trying to hide something. After Jake discovers she has been hiding Katherine, Evelyn leaves with her daughter for Mexico (Polanski). A correlation between these two events is implied by Polanski, which positions viewers to conclude Evelyn feels the escape to Mexico is necessary to ensure Katherine remains undiscovered. This is further elaborated upon when she demands her father stay away from Katherine (Polanski), insinuating she is fleeing from whom she considers a “very dangerous man.” (Polanski). By having Evelyn abandon her home to seek asylum from her father, Polanski suggests she feels the only way to avoid the power of perversion is to flee from its presence. This attitude is used by Polanski to persuade the audience that evil is so powerful it can not be challenged, it is undefeatable. When confronting her father, Evelyn is told by Jake to “Let the police handle this!” (Polanski); her rebuttal, “He owns the police.” (Polanski), is immediately followed by her shooting Cross (Polanski).

​On the other hand, I'm thoroughly convinced that Evelyn had more to do with the murder than knowing about it. When she was first trialed, there was enough evidence against Evelyn to make the judge find her guilty. So much that she was almost given the death sentence, and if Evelyn didn't hire the more talented lawyer, she would be confirmed dead as of January 7th, 1947. Secondly, Evelyn seemed to know about John's disappearance according to her mom, Alexandra. Apparently, Evelyn had been missing for a "prolonged period" on the day John went missing and when asked about him Evelyn said that he wouldn't be coming around anymore. Furthermore, if she can murder her innocent newborn, she has the capability of killing her husband as well. Lastly,

Bateman is in a way sickened by the everyday all-American life he leads, while the reader is sickened by the flip side of Patrick Bateman.

Although Lolita is not a romantic novel, many Americans view it as one or present it as if it is

Lolita, the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, tells the story of Humbert Humbert, who is a perfect example of a pedophile. Although the character Humbert Humbert describes his feelings toward the twelve year old Lolita as love, in actuality, it is obsessive lust. Nabokov does an excellent job displaying the characteristics of pedophilia through this character. Reading Lolita makes us conscious of the need to be more aware that pedophilia is alive and well in our society today. In developing this point, I will examine pedophilia and its clinical characteristics as they relate to Humbert Humbert and our society.

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