Power Of Language In Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita and Bret Easton Ellis’s novel American Psycho both show the stories of seemingly regular men based off of how they interact with people in their lives while in public view. The main characters from each novel are not normal functioning men of society. Humbert Humbert from Nabokov’s Lolita is a middle aged man who has an obsession with young girls around the age of twelve. Patrick Bateman from Ellis’s American Psycho is an incredibly narcissistic, egotistic, man who is an investment banker by day and serial killer by night. Both men have had a privileged upbringing.

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 men who show their obsessions in Fear and Lolita do so in a more aggressive manner. Humbert, who has always had in interest in young girls, is instantly taken with Dolores, the 12 year old daughter of his landlady - “It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.” She is the whole reason for his decision to stay at the house, as he is initially put off by her mother, the domineering Charlotte. Humbert takes extreme measures by marrying Charlotte for the sole purpose of staying close to Dolores. After Charlotte’s death, Humbert takes Dolores on the road for an indefinite road trip. He is so attached to her that he becomes easily panicked when he is faced with the possibility of her leaving him. This causes him to be incredibly possessive over her, limiting her interaction with friends her own age to prevent

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.

In the 1st person point of view the reader sees the story unfold from the perspective of the narrator. Many novels use this convention such as classics like Catcher in the Rye and Treasure Island. This point of view allows the reader to sympathize with the narrator/main character and place themselves in the lives of these characters. Because of this, however, 1st person narration is limited and biased. The narrator can only know what is taking place around them and even then, the narrator can be considered unreliable due to being able to change certain

The realness and intimacy that the first-person voice gives us makes the reader more able to relate and understand the feelings and ideas being expressed.

2. Relationship to meaning: The first person narration helps the reader see things from the character point of view and also helps create doubt over what really happened or why something really happened.

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,

Tom slammed the door behind him, and walked to his vehicle, which had been parked askew in the driveway in his earlier haste to get inside to Lila. It was only when he entered, and the sound of the ignition broke the silence, and the headlights, the darkness, that he paused to think of what had occurred. Regardless of the surprise gift that had arrived at his office, and the note that had accompanied it, Tom instinctively knew that the acts he’d perpetrated inside weren’t what Lila had wanted. How could any women wish to be struck about the face, called a slut and a whore, and be humiliated and degraded by the man she loved. Possibly in a roleplay, but that hadn’t been roleplay, or what Lila had wanted, but what Tom had. And the, recognition, of the stranger who’d invaded his mind, and raped his wife brought a nausea to the pit of his stomach, and as Tom reversed the car, with his gaze fixated on the living room windows, he wound

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.

When a story is written in first person point of view, the reader often feels closer to the narrator because he/she shares his/her thoughts and feelings.

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.

There are lots of better writer and novelist in the world who have given so many books and novels for reading, I have read some of them and some are discussed with everyone. There are famous writers like A. A. Milne, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, J K Rowling, Lewis Carroll and the list does not end here. They have given books for fiction, Children’s Literature, Literature, plays, short stories, Biographies, Fantasy, Poetry, and so on… First of all, what is First person narration? The first person narration is ‘The Story is told by a character that participates in the action of the story itself. First person Narrative is used by an author who wants a personal/subjective/intimate point of view’. In this essay, I will discuss the ways that first person narration affects the overall story which contains many things like Plot, settings of the story, Characters, the point of view, tone, irony, and symbolism. The story also contains many things for the third person too. But apart from all this, I m going to discuss the effects of the first person three main points are on styles and variations point of view and benefits of writing in the first person. Some other points are displayed in front. First I will discuss the style and variations then everything else.

Through the decades, many novels that were banned are now an immense controversial topic, from Harry Potter novels to The Great Gatsby. If read carefully, those novels have many themes and ideas that have made a huge impact on the newer generations. The book, Lolita, was banned shortly after it was published. Lolita has value to young readers because we need to learn how to be open minded about topics. One can see why it is very controversial. The main character’s words sometimes seem magical and can convince some readers that his actions are okay. In a way, he persuades us to see that his obsessive tactics are at least not so severe ( why ‘lolita’). But before I get ahead of myself, let us look back at the history.

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