Focus on Literary Merit and Themes (Ending of the Book)
Well, here we are.
I finally finished Lolita, and my thoughts remain as conflicted and speculative as they were at the very beginning of the novel. This story of depravity and desperation certainly has left its mark on me. It constantly makes the reader question practically everything that our narrator is telling us, and I doubt I'll ever read a book with a first-person narrator with full faith in what I'm being told again.
I won't fully summarize the latter quarter of the novel, as I want to focus moreso on the literary merit and themes of the work as a whole, but here is a very simple summary: Humbert and Lolita leave for their second cross-country road trip, this time planned out by Lolita. Humbert becomes paranoid that somebody is shadowing them, and subsequently takes precautions to "protect" Lolita from this mysterious person. Eventually, Lolita falls sick and is taken to a hospital, and while Humbert is staying in a nearby hotel, the mysterious figure takes her away by claiming to be her uncle. Humbert goes on to spend a number of years searching for Lolita to no avail, but eventually receives notice that she is married and is calling for him. He meets up with her to discover that the man she has married is not the man who took her from the hospital -- who is named Clare Quilty -- but another person entirely. After hearing how Lolita escaped from Quilty after he attempted to force her into orgies and abused her in other ways, Humbert leaves to exact his revenge on Quilty, which results in the murder for which Humbert is being tried, as said in the foreword.
Now, for the fun stuff: literary merit, and themes. I'll begin with literary merit.
The very structure of Lolita finds its roots in metaphysics, with the concept of truth versus lies specifically within a fictional story. It makes you think -- if a lie is told within a fictional story, is there an interpretation that makes it true? Is any fictional story inherently dishonest, even if the narrator within the canon's universe is entirely truthful about the events? It may not be a literal commentary on the rules of fiction and the divide between fiction and reality, but I found that the topic continually entered my mind during the period over which I read the novel. Just some philosophy food for thought, even if it's not wholly relevant.
For one, the topic Lolita is based on could easily be handled in a way that would strip the book of any literary merit. We've all heard of trashy convenience store books and romantic movies that portray an older man falling deeply for a younger woman and the accounts of their sexual escapades, and most of us hold this genre in disdain. However, the psychological focus and scope of Nabakov's beautiful and expert prose elevate Lolita beyond the average novel. Nabakov seems to intimately understand the workings of a pedophile's mind (which is concerning, for a number of reasons, but that's beside the point). There's something within the novel that rings true for a lot of people, though it's hard to define. I think part of the reason this work is so highly regarded is because of the themes it addresses in addition to the admittedly beautiful shell of the novel's words.
Now, the topic of the novel's themes.
There are many that I could talk about -- taboos, lies, even cultural differences and the story of a European assimilating to life in America. But to me, the most interesting analysis can be done when you consider the overlap between love and morality.
To me, the most notable line in this entire section was when Lolita says to Humbert that she would sooner return to Quilty than come with him:
I finally finished Lolita, and my thoughts remain as conflicted and speculative as they were at the very beginning of the novel. This story of depravity and desperation certainly has left its mark on me. It constantly makes the reader question practically everything that our narrator is telling us, and I doubt I'll ever read a book with a first-person narrator with full faith in what I'm being told again.
I won't fully summarize the latter quarter of the novel, as I want to focus moreso on the literary merit and themes of the work as a whole, but here is a very simple summary: Humbert and Lolita leave for their second cross-country road trip, this time planned out by Lolita. Humbert becomes paranoid that somebody is shadowing them, and subsequently takes precautions to "protect" Lolita from this mysterious person. Eventually, Lolita falls sick and is taken to a hospital, and while Humbert is staying in a nearby hotel, the mysterious figure takes her away by claiming to be her uncle. Humbert goes on to spend a number of years searching for Lolita to no avail, but eventually receives notice that she is married and is calling for him. He meets up with her to discover that the man she has married is not the man who took her from the hospital -- who is named Clare Quilty -- but another person entirely. After hearing how Lolita escaped from Quilty after he attempted to force her into orgies and abused her in other ways, Humbert leaves to exact his revenge on Quilty, which results in the murder for which Humbert is being tried, as said in the foreword.
Now, for the fun stuff: literary merit, and themes. I'll begin with literary merit.
The very structure of Lolita finds its roots in metaphysics, with the concept of truth versus lies specifically within a fictional story. It makes you think -- if a lie is told within a fictional story, is there an interpretation that makes it true? Is any fictional story inherently dishonest, even if the narrator within the canon's universe is entirely truthful about the events? It may not be a literal commentary on the rules of fiction and the divide between fiction and reality, but I found that the topic continually entered my mind during the period over which I read the novel. Just some philosophy food for thought, even if it's not wholly relevant.
For one, the topic Lolita is based on could easily be handled in a way that would strip the book of any literary merit. We've all heard of trashy convenience store books and romantic movies that portray an older man falling deeply for a younger woman and the accounts of their sexual escapades, and most of us hold this genre in disdain. However, the psychological focus and scope of Nabakov's beautiful and expert prose elevate Lolita beyond the average novel. Nabakov seems to intimately understand the workings of a pedophile's mind (which is concerning, for a number of reasons, but that's beside the point). There's something within the novel that rings true for a lot of people, though it's hard to define. I think part of the reason this work is so highly regarded is because of the themes it addresses in addition to the admittedly beautiful shell of the novel's words.
Now, the topic of the novel's themes.
There are many that I could talk about -- taboos, lies, even cultural differences and the story of a European assimilating to life in America. But to me, the most interesting analysis can be done when you consider the overlap between love and morality.
To me, the most notable line in this entire section was when Lolita says to Humbert that she would sooner return to Quilty than come with him:
"'You are sure you are not coming with me? Is there no hope of your coming? Tell me only this.'
'No, she said. 'No, honey, no.'
She had never called me honey before.
'No,' she said. 'It is quite out of the question. I would sooner go back to Cue. I mean--'
She groped for words. I supplied them mentally. ('He broke my heart. You merely broke my life.')" (pg. 279)
It both shows the underlying contempt Lolita holds for Humbert and his awareness of why she feels that way. Throughout the novel, he's both employed various tactics to justify his behavior towards her (claiming that she seduced him, referring to her as his "pet", et cetera) and acknowledged the faults with his pedophilic behavior. But, towards the end of his account, he seemingly stops justifying what he's done to her, and admits that both she and he feel as though he stole her childhood, and subsequently life as a whole, away from her. This both reflects his "letting go" of her in a literal sense -- that of allowing her to live without him -- and the love that he seemingly feels for her. By the end, he's willing to admit that he "loved" her -- but in a way that damaged her irreparably.
His love and morality align more than they have in the past. He lets her go on living with her husband and seeks vengeance for her out of the love that remains. Humbert has always been aware of the taboos and power dynamic issues within his love for young girls, and has somewhat harbored guilt for that throughout the entire book. However, it's his actions at the end that show more of a revelation regarding his own nature than we've seen previously.
Overall, Lolita was an incredibly potent tale that I won't be forgetting.
If you think about the purpose in Humbert's explanation of what has happened, is there a reason he might express regret at this point in the tale?
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