blog post #8: final reflection

Lolita is a novel about a story told through a book written by Humbert Humbert while in prison, about his life and events around his childhood, his relationships, and his relationship with Lolita. Humbert's attraction to young girls originates from a childhood trauma, losing his first love, Annabelle, to a fatal sickness. He had never gotten over Annabelle, and felt attracted to girls with similar features, of that of a child. Decades after her death, Humbert had moved to America, where he met Lolita after moving in as a tenant with her mother. He marries Lolita's mother in order to stay close to Lolita, his new "Annabelle". After an accident takes Lolita's mother, Humbert spends time around the United States with his new relationship with Lolita. The dynamic of power is what brought Lolita to stay with Humbert until she leaves with another older man. Humbert spends years tracking down the one who was "stolen" from him, and eventually finds her, pregnant,  and without the man who had taken her and left her to end up murdering him, and being arrested.

My lens, psychoanalytical, pushed me to step back from my own views, and look through the views of the teller of the story, Humbert Humbert. My understanding of the lens did not change what I thought of the lens  itself, but did change how I had perceived the novel. Although I will never sympathize with Humbert's actions, I do understand why they were committed.
If I had chosen another lens, I do not believe I would take as much time to assess why Humbert was doing what he was doing, as I would have to what he was a doing and focus on punishment. I do not believe I missed things from the novel, as my focus, psychoanalytical, is what I believe captures most from the book than all the other lenses.
I believe this because of what was said in the beginning of the book,  the "people of the jury",  the audience that will read this book through the eyes of Humbert, and analyze and assess his point of view with their own, which is what the book, and the novel itself, is intended for. This lens might not be perfect for other books, and the downsides would be that I would focus too much on the why of the events rather than the events themselves. Again, my beliefs had not changed towards the behaviors of Humbert, or any person who Humbert could potentially symbolize, but I do know that actions are not caused on their own. I do believe that Humbert believed he wasn't as guilty as many would think of him without knowing the cause of his actions, which is why he wrote this book in prison, but I do not excuse his actions. 

blog post #7: responding and reflecting

"I may have lost contact with reality for a second or two--oh, nothing of the I-just-blacked-out sort that your common criminal enacts; on the contrary, I want to stress the fact that I was responsible for every shed drop of his bubbleblood; but a kind of momentary shift occurred as if I were in the connubial bedroom, and Charlotte were sick in bed. Quilty was a very sick man. I held one of his slippers instead of the pistol--I was sitting on the pistol. Then I made myself a little more comfortable in the chair near the bed, and consulted my wrist watch. The crystal was gone but it ticked.The whole sad business had taken more than an hour. He was quiet at last. Far from feeling any relief, a burden even weightier than the one I had hoped to get rid of was with me, upon me, over me. I could not bring myself to touch him in order to make sure he was really dead. He looked it: a quarter of his face gone, and two flies beside themselves with a dawning sense of unbelievable luck. My hands were hardly in better condition than his. I washed up as best I could in the adjacent bathroom. Now I could leave. As I emerged on the landing, I was amazed to discover that a vivacious buzz I had just been dismissing as a mere singing in my ears was really a medley of voices and radio music coming from the downstairs,"(304).

Humbert has just murdered Quilty, who had "taken" Lolita away from him. Humbert had shot him in cold blood after a short struggle between the two. What was very disturbing is that after shooting him, Humbert was disappointed that he did not feel any relief that he was hoping he would have felt. He even tried to make himself more comfortable in the same room. He sees that a quarter of his face has been blasted off, yet Humbert still makes a mental note of not wanting to check if he was dead. Considering Humbert pursued relations with a young girl, this would lead me to believe that he was mentally ill, and his emotionless state after killing another man in cold blood, confirms my thought.

blog post #6: responding and reflecting

I can't read any scenes with Lolita without anger. Every page to which she is seen as "promiscuous" or a "tease" I think, she is only twelve years old. A child.  A child that is objectified by this man. A child, a child, a child. You cannot describe her any different. The thoughts and analyzations of my fellow classmates also struck me the wrong way. Many describe Lolita as a sexual deviant, or you could also say nymphet, as Humbert describes these girls. Again, this story is being told through the eyes of a man that is attracted to children. He is describing this girl as if she was an adult, and you have to remind yourself of the perspective you are reading from. Reading through the psychoanalytical lens,  I tell myself this, and wonder if this was the aim of Vladimir Nabokov. To see how the readers will perceive Humbert and his perspective. To see if they take his perspective as fact, or remind themselves of his bias. In the beginning of the book he states that Lolita "seduced" him, but this is only due to his attraction and sexualization of young girls in the first place so he takes advantage of her attraction to him. I want to further explain the age and power dynamic I mentioned in an earlier blog post. Children cannot consent due to their age because they are unable to understand their certain situations and decisions put upon them. There is an imbalance of power because the adult, in this case Humbert Humbert, can easily put thoughts into a child's head, about what is right and what is wrong because of the authority they have. Lolita continues her behavior because Humbert allowed her to, he let her believe that she is consenting, that the relationship is okay.

blog post #5: responding and reflecting

Humbert Humbert is an extremely disturbed man. Reading Lolita through the psychoanalytical lens had made me look for specific traits in Humberts character. Throughout the beginning chapters of his story, Humbert speaks about his life, and his encounters with the women in his life. Many of the 'women' he speaks about are not women at all, but young girls. Young innocent children, his targets, potential victims, and his victims.

However, reading through the psychoanalytical lens makes me realize that those that I identify as victims to this horrible man, are seen through a different light in his eyes. He does not see these children as victims. When he speaks of Monique, the "nymphet" he speaks of his attraction to her, of how she made him feel specifically because of how she looked. He does not see her mentality, her as a victim, her feelings. He just sees what he wants to see. He does however mention earlier that he would never mess with a child's "innocence", and that makes me think, does he believe he is not doing wrong considering he does have some sort of 'moral'?

His objectification of young girls only goes as far as pursuing sexual relations when the younger party willingly goes along with it. (Monique, and eventually Lolita).  I use the word 'willingly' very loosely here because of the age and power dynamic that is present in these relationships. Especially with Monique, due to her being a, possibly underage, prostitute.  What are the psychological effects of her doing this job, and what are the reasons behind her pursuing this job in the first place at such a young age? We don't get to know this, because again, we are reading through Humbert Humbert's eyes. He doesn't consider these thoughts, because of his attraction, and because he see's her doing this job as her full consent.