preview

The Go-Between And Lolita Are Two Novels That Challenged

Good Essays
Open Document

The Go-Between and Lolita are two novels that challenged childhood innocence and sexual experience. Childhood innocence is tested by child life experiences. Innocence can be depicted as the quality of ignorance. In this case, childhood innocence is portrayed through the ignorance of sex and maturation. Sexual Relationships between adolescents and adults are taboo and immoral. These relations usually have undesirable consequences for both parties. This paper will focus on the similarities and differences of two novels, in exploring sexual relations, childhood innocence and the significances of these relations. In Valdimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Dolores Haze, also known as Lolita, is an innocent, but sexually experienced twelve-year-old girl, …show more content…

In both these novels, the childhood innocence and experience were targets of the relationships and eventually lead to the consequences of the character’s lives.
The sexual relationships between the characters is one of the main themes that place in both Lolita and The Go-Between. In The Go-Between, Leo Colston is a sensitive introverted character. As we know, his crush on Marian was the primary influence on the choice of becoming a go-between. Marian’s main target was Leo’s emotional state. Leo was emotionally attached to adults. He does not fit in anywhere, he is an innocent boy who does not want to viewed as an innocent child. Marian knowing of Leo’s innocence as well as his crush on her, she used this to her advantage, even though it was wrong. Her being too blinded by love, she did not realize how greatly traumatizing Leo’s future would turn out to be. Later, you can see the effects of Leo being stuck in between a forbidden love. Causing the emotional and mental state of Leo to deteriorate, as seen here: “Ted’s outburst had almost obliterated Marians: it had finished off the demolition of my temporary emotional structure” (Hartley 212). Following this, he became paranoid and scared, getting into his head, that Marian would tell everyone about how childish he is and a shylock.
In contrast, Dolores Haze, has a different kind of relationship with the adult character, Humbert. They have a physical sexual relationship. Humbert is a mentally

Get Access