Responding and Reflecting

Text: Lolita Vladimir Nabokov

Critical Lens: Psychoanalytical

Through what I have learned in psychology, there are many things that I question in the way that Humbert’s childhood has brought him to where he is now. In one part of the book he explain how he can hardly remember Annabel and how he can recall Lolita very easily. What I question is how can someone so important in his life that has affected him in so many ways, can be forgotten/replaced so easily.

This leads me to think that Humbert is holding on to Annabel through being attracted to nymphets. I the beginning of the book he states that he would hang out in parks so he could be able to watch the nymphets play. In another part of the book we are introduced to Valeria. The audience is told that he decided to marry her, not because he loved her but because of her child-like nature and flirtatious, doll-like airs. But when she confessed that she is having an affair with a taxi driver, he gets really frustrated to the point where he wants to find an opportunity where he can kill her. Even though he never lover her, he was able to become really frustrated towards her when she cheated on him. This brings me back to my point in stating that although Humbert Humbert states that he has forgotten Lolita, from my point of view, he has gotten Annabel's qualities and tried to look for them in other women. Since he found Valeria to be “child-like” he was still unconsciously thinking of Annabel.