Response #14 Chapter 8 section 2

Response to Chapter 8 section 2

Speak, Memory chapter 8 section 2 is Nabokov’s account of one of his many tutors, Ordo. Nabokov illustrates his tutor through a, “magic-lantern sequence” (155), of slides. The first slide depicts tutor Ordo as, “the enlightened son of a Greek Catholic deacon”(156). Nabokov characterizes each tutor with a specific gimmick, Ordo, for example, “…would give a rather profane and foolish performance for which my brother and I clamored every time we passed there. Bending his head and flapping his coat in weird, vampiric fashion he would slowly cavort around a lugubrious aspen”(156). Ordo’s residency was short lived and ended abruptly with a sentimental letter left in his place. Nabokov infers his tutor fled after an affair with his mother ended.

The following tutor was Ukrainian and performed magic tricks for the boys, such as vanishing trick coin. Nabokov recounts that it was at this time he became aware of how the, “wonders of nature were beginning to impress me at that early age”(157). Due to a heart condition this tutor collapsed in the street and was scooped up by the police and discarded with the local drunkards.

Nabokov introduces his next tutor with a slide of his teacher standing on his head. His defining trait was his athleticism, and only remained in Nabokov’s company for a “stormy month’s stay”(158). According to Nabokov’s illustration he had an extensive collection of weights and dumbbells. His punishment method consisted of putting on boxing gloves and giving Nabokov a nice lick square in the face. Although Nabokov preferred this to Mademoiselles’ penalty of repeatedly writing a French proverb, “Qui aime bien, châtie bien”(158), he was not remorseful when his tutor departed only a month after his arrival.

Max Linder is the next tutor Nabokov encountered and was the first man Nabokov genuinely respected. Max and Nabokov were almost approached by Cossacks during an outing and in response Max half-drew his pistol. Nabokov raves about Max’s gun and fantasizes hunting with him and his father. Nabokov writes, “I visualize my father on a summer day in the country vying with Max in marksmanship-riddling with pistol bullets a rusty NO HUNTING sign in our woods”(158). This life experience is definitely where Nabokov found inspiration for using a gun as Humbert’s murder weapon. It’s parallels between Nabokov’s life experiences and plot details within Lolita such as these that validate that Nabokov drew from his own life experiences to humanize the rapist Humbert is, which allows the audience to have empathy for him, allowing him to be a protagonist the reader can relate to guiltlessly.

The next tutor Nabokov had was Lenski. Nabokov felt a need to protect Lenski because he was a great teacher. Nabokov illustrates Lenski’s person as,

There something irritating about his dry voice, his excessive neatness, the way he had of constantly wiping his glasses with a special cloth or paring his nails with a special gadget, his pedantically correct speech and, perhaps most of all, his fantastic morning custom of marching (seemingly straight out of bed but already shod and trousered, with red braces hanging behind and a strange netlike vest enveloping his plump hairy torso) to the nearest faucet and limiting there his ablutions to a thorough sousing of his pink face, blue skull and fat neck, followed by some lusty Russian nose-blowing, after which he marched, with the same purposeful steps, but now dripping and purblind, back to his bedroom where he kept in a secret place three sacrosanct towels… (160).

The similarities between Humbert’s personality and Lenski’s are undeniable. From their speech to their particular way of doing things is further evidence that Nabokov pulled from his own experiences to make Humbert a protagonist the reader can root for.

Response # 13 Creative Writing Assignment

Take a key scene in Lolita and rewrite it - either altering the style (choose an omniscient, realistic voice) or the point of view (choose that of a female character such as Charlotte, Valeria, or Lolita - or even Mona Dahl - or a character such as Quilty or Maximovich).

Dear Diary,

Dad came for me at camp today. Around 2 I had to lug my huge suitcase into the office to meet him. When I finally reached the office I said "Hi" and gave him a smile. He looked tired and stressed, but he was happy, as usual, to see me. He was a gentleman and carried my bag to the car for me. I snapped my gum loudly in the car, it was the first time I'd had a piece in almost 2 months! We weren't allowed to have any gum at camp, something about too many little kids sticking it underneath everything. Mother is still in the hospital. Dad said the doctor told him it was something abdominal, what does that even mean anyways? Abdominal? Weird. He promised to see all the shows in Lepingville, because it's near the hospital, and we have to stay near there for Mother. Some famous poet lived there a long time ago. But that won't be until tomorrow, tonight we're staying in Briceland. Dad drives a lot faster than mummy does. It was then I told him how revoltingly unfaithful I was to him. I thought he'd stopped caring for me at all anyway. When he asked why I'd said that I told him because he hadn't even kissed me yet! Dad pulled over and I slipped out of my seat and into his lap. He was very stiff. I kissed him hard, but he still stayed very stiff. Then a cop pulled up next to our car and asked if we'd seen a blue car with the same model as ours pass us. I told him no and he hopped back into his car and drove off. I scolded dad then, because he should've gotten caught cause of how darn fast he was driving! He even ran a red light. He really is a crappy driver. I questioned him on what would happen if mother discovered our affair. Oh she would be furious and mad as hell! Dad wouldn't hear of talk like that though and tried to change the subject, probing me on camp activities. I told him about some of the things we did, singing around the campfire, and I almost told him how I was such a good friend to the male animals! But I just couldn't with him staring at me so intensely! I will tell him how I had been unfaithful, but later in the dark where I can hide the redness in my face. We've stopped at a candy bar for ice cream now, so I must enjoy my treat! I'll write again tonight after I tell him my secret!

Yours truly,
~Lo

Response #12 Rain Interpretation w Nabokovian themes and tendencies

The goal here is to interpret the poem as well as you can, but also to find Nabokovian themes and tendencies (and connections to Lolita) in the poems.


Rain (1956)

How mobile is the bed on these

nights of gesticulating trees

when the rain clatters fast,

the tin-toy rain with dapper hoof

trotting upon an endless roof,

traveling into the past.


Upon old roads the steeds of rain

slip and slow down and speed again

through many a tangled year;

but they can never reach the last

dip at the bottom of the past

because the sun is there.


The first two lines describe how the rain and accompanying fierce wind shake his dwelling. The rain patters so hard on the roof, to Nabokov, it sounds like a horse trotting, seemingly never tiring. Storms like these have gone on since the beginning of time and will continue until the end of time. The second The second stanza described the rain slowing and speeding up again continuously coming down. But even though it seems like the rain will never let up, in the last three lines Nabokov tells us it will because, "the sun is there", meaning the sun will inevitably shine again. Honestly, I don't see any connection to Lolita as far as his diction is concerned. However, the poem's story seems to parallel Lolita. Humbert is constantly facing misfortune on the road, which is the rain in the poem, but has faith things will get better once he and Lolita are settled, alluding to the end of the poem when the sun finally returns.

Response #9 Critique on Part Two.

Losing Lo. Part Two: Chapters 18-20.

In these chapters we see Humbert's paranoia grow vastly because of "Trapp" tailing him and Lolita. The harder Humbert tries to control Lolita the faster he loses control of her, ironically. The butterfly theme is also very apparent within these chapters. Mirroring Lolita's transformation from innocent little girl to more of a femme fatale figure with her plotting her get away. It also represents Lolita's metamorphosis from girl to woman, we see her develop into her person and is not merely a 'thing' anymore. The more out of Humbert's grasp Lolita grows into the archetype of femme fatale with her espionage, acting cruel, and continuing to be irresistible in Humbert's eyes.

Finding Lo. Part Two: Chapters 27-29.

Once Humbert loses Lolita we see his paranoia erupt into full blown insanity. Seeing meaning in things that were just coincidences. For example the number 342, 342 Lawn st. is where Humbert met Lolita, 342 is the motel room number where they first had sex, and throughout their road trip across America Humbert and Lolita stayed in 342 motels. After Humbert realizes Lolita is lost and begins his relationship with Rita, he doesn't return to molesting nymphets. We question wether or not Humbert's infatuation with nymphets was a direct result of his relationship with Annabel, and was his way of trying to innocently relive that intense love, or if he was just a pedophile that accepted defeat after Lolita escaped, too emotionally exhausted to chase another nymphet. The Annabel hypothesis is strengthened when Lolita writes to Humbert asking for financial help and he realizes he still and always will love her. Humbert has matured in this section, illustrated by his reaction to Lolita's refusal to leave with him.  

Killing Quilty. Part Two: Chapters 33-end

The final three chapter of Lolita contain a lot of self reflection. Humbert finally has an epiphany about his impact on Lolita and how he robbed her of her childhood which destroyed her life. Before Humbert finally offs Quilty the poem he reads him, detailing his assaults against Lolita, is really a reflection of himself and a tool for Humbert to confront himself in his head about his own trespasses against Lolita. Humbert's skewed view of himself in contrast to Quilty lulls himself into a false view of righteousness. Viewing Quilty as evil and the blame for all the abuse Lolita has endured Humbert kills him in an attempt to kill his own guilt and a way to repent for his sins.  

More Lolita puzzles

More Lolita puzzles:
1. What is the color most frequently associated with Lolita? Red and Pink.

2. If Lolita were a game, what is Humbert's fatal move? Focusing on his endgame with tunnel vision, resulting in him losing Lolita because he can't account for other variables.

3. There are many passages in which Lolita's appearance is compared to that of a boy? How would you interpret this? I think it parallels how young men act out sexual yearnings. Boys assert an aggressive hands on approach to obtaining their sexual instant gratification. Where as Lolita utilizes the same tactic but in more of a seductive manner, and uses the tunnel vision accompanying young men's yearnings to her benefit.

4. Humbert cries out in a strange passage that he fears water above all else. A reference here appears to be to a section from Eliot's The Waste Land - "Death by Water." And the confrontation with Quilty contains a reference to "Gerontion." What do Lolita and "The Waste Land" have in common thematically, if anything? I think the commonality lies in the journey to inevitable disaster. The Waste Land is a journey down a river, water symbolizing constantly surrounded by danger and death as a possibility at every moment. Similarly Humbert's journey is constantly in fear of being caught, which is how he's constantly surrounded by 'water'.

5. A "swoon" is a way of becoming insensible to reality; and a "haze," mentioned throughout the book, is another state of unawareness. What are other ways of escaping from reality that are important in Lolita? Humbert's tunnel vision is how he escapes daily from the reality of being in danger of getting caught at any moments notice. Also playing the roles of father and daughter create a false reality that comforts Humbert into a false sense of security.

6. The essentially melancholy story has rhapsodic elements to the very end; Appel commented on Humbert's mix of pleasure and sorrow. How are his pleasure and sorrow connected? Humbert's mix of pleasure and sorrow are entwined in every way Humbert experiences any sort of gratification. All the things such as sex with nymphets that give Humbert pleasure are sinful. They all come with consequences that land Humbert and those surrounding him in pain and sorrow.

Response # 8 Gaming the fiction 10/10

Gaming the fiction: this can only be answered after the discussion of games on Tuesday 10/8 - i.e. for Thursday: While the novel itself may be seen as a game, various events in the novel are games in themselves: Lolita's "kissing game"; Humbert and Charlotte's marital game ("every game has its rules"); the "game" of avoiding the law and maintaining Lolita's compliance during their year-long drive through America; the proposed game of Russian Roulette with a revolver (later in the story)... In each case, how does the event have the characteristics of a game discussed in class?


Lolita's kissing game:
The kissing game begins on the drive away from Lolita's camp, when she initiates a kiss with Humbert, a result of Lo accusing Humbert of no longer caring for her. Humbert takes advantage of the innocent "game", and Lolita's hunger for "imitation of some simulacrum of fake romance". Humbert comments on the fluidity of "girlish games", unconsciously creating a rule, following Lolita's lead fearing acting too aggressively and sending her into revolt. This rule she immediately enforces when Humbert kisses her neck after returning to the car, shortly after their first shared kiss.

Humbert and Charlotte's marital game:
The give and take control of aspect their relationship is the bases of Humbert and Charlotte's marital game. When the other breaks this unspoken rule the upset spouse acts out until balance is restored.

"Game" of avoiding the law and maintaining Lolita's compliance: Rules of the "game" include punishing Lolita if she breaks the compliancy rule by accusing Humbert of rape she'll be sent to boarding school. Humbert must continue planning exciting adventures to keep Lolita happy enough for her to keep engaging in intercourse. The couple must keep to themselves, constantly moving to not attract negative attention from the law. Another rule is to stay in motels, they provide necessary privacy Humbert requires and a quick get away route.

Russian Roulette:

Response # 7 "This is royal fun." 10/8

"This is royal fun." Nabokov thought the name Humbert had a royal sound, and Humbert often refers to himself with a kingly cognomen. He and Annabelle spent their brief time together in a "kingdom by the sea." And monarchical language is everywhere. Lolita is often called a "princess" in a positive and negative sense. Find seven distinct ways that Nabokov refers to kings, courts, monarchy - and descendancy.

Seven Royal References:

1. Visiting Scotty's Castle pg. 157

2. Lolita's nicknamed "My Frigid Princess" after visiting a milk bar, "The Frigid Queen" pg. 166

3. Their search for a "Kingdom by the Sea"pg. 167

4. Staying in a cheaper motel chain, "Motor Courts" is Humbert's solution to save money pg.175

5. Miss Pratt accuses Humbert of "making a princess of your (Humbert's) Dolly," due to lack of "regular home duties" pg. 194

6. "Duke's Manor" nickname of the castle-like house, residence of two of Dolly's classmates pg. 197

7. "king's side", and "my queen" are referenced in during the chess game with Gaston pg. 202-203

Initial Research Question 10/2

Post on your "topic," but with a special focus on the end of part one, Humbert's meeting with Lolita at the camp, their subsequent drive, their experience at the Enchanted Hunter, and their continued journey after. Look for specific examples of the theme on which you're focusing.

Why does Nabokov choose to have Humbert care about how they view his fetish? This motif repeats itself through out the entire novel, why is it important? What affect does this have on the reader's opinion on Humbert? Does Humbert actually believe in his delusional justifications or is it an act to try to get a lesser sentence?

Response # 6 Justifications

2. Justifications

In my reading for writers journalism class we were assigned to read Nobody Better, Better Than Nobody written by Ian Frazier. On the third page of the profile there's an allusion to Lolita, "In Illinois, I passed a motor home with a large metal nameplate on the back saying 'The Humberts'" (92). This isn't a pop culture reference; however, I thought it was ironic that there was an allusion to Lolita in my other class's reading. 

What is a "Lolita" in the popular imagination?
 "Lolita" in the popular imagination is like jailbait. Perhaps a little like toddlers in tiaras, a popular t.v show about crazy mothers dressing up their very young daughters and entering them in beauty pageants. These young girls know there is something special about them from the attention they're receiving, but they're too young to understand why they're getting the attention. Their moms are dressing them in dresses designed for a slutty senior prom, with pounds of make-up caked on their faces, and sticking them in mini stilettos. The young girls are being sexualized by their moms in order to win the pageant. The connection to Lolita comes from the mom putting their daughters in this sexualized position. Similar to a mix of Humbert's forcing and his late wife putting her daughter in his care.    

Response # 5 Humbert's methods of self-justification

Issue: Humbert's methods of self-justification

Passage 1:
pp. 17-18:
Furthermore, since the idea of time plays such a magic part in the

matter, the student should not be surprised to learn that there must be a

gap of several years, never less than ten I should say, generally thirty or

forty, and as many as ninety in a few known cases, between maiden and man to

enable the latter to come under a nymphet's spell. It is a question of focal

adjustment, of a certain distance that the inner eye thrills to surmount,

and a certain contrast that the mind perceives with a gasp of perverse

delight. When I was a child and she was a child, my little Annabel was no

nymphet to me; I was her equal, a faunlet in my own right, on that same

enchanted island of time; but today, in September 1952, after twenty-nine

years have elapsed, I think I can distinguish in her the initial fateful elf

in my life.


Passage 2:
pp. 19-20
But let us be prim and civilized. Humbert Humbert tried hard to be

good. Really and truly, he did. He had the utmost respect for ordinary

children, with their purity and vulnerability, and under no circumstances

would he have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the

least risk of a row. But how his heart beat when, among the innocent throng,

he espied a demon child, "enfant charmante et fourbe," dim eyes,

bright lips, ten years in jail if you only show her you are looking at her.

So life went. Humbert was perfectly capable of intercourse with Eve, but it

was Lilith he longed for. The bud-stage of breast development appears early

(10.7 years) in the sequence of somatic changes accompanying pubescence. And

the next maturational item available is the first appearance of pigmented

pubic hair (11.2 years). My little cup brims with tiddles.

Passage 3:
pp. 18-19
All this I rationalize now. In my twenties and early thirties, I did not understand my throes quite so clearly. While my body knew what it craved for, my mind rejected my body's every plea. One moment I was ashamed and frightened, another recklessly optimistic. Taboos strangled me. Psychoanalysts wooed me with pseudoliberations of pseudolibidoes. The fact to me the only objects of amorous tremor were sisters of Annabel's, her handmaids and girl-pages, appeared to me at times as a fore-runner of insanity. At other times I would tell myself that it was all a question of attitude, that there was really nothing wrong in being moved to distraction by girl-children.

All three of these passages demonstrate Humbert justifying his overwhelming lust for girl-children, or as he would call them, nymphets. In the first passage he minimizes his perverted lusting by saying it's just a matter of altering one's "focal adjustment". Humbert consistently rationalizes his sickness by bringing his audience's attention to how hard he tried to not molest little girls. In the second passage he tries to gain sympathy from his audience by focusing on how he would have sex with age appropriate women instead of "nymphets". He tries to gain sympathy and kudos for not molesting little girls- which is just head-shakingly shamelessly pitiful, like we are really going to pat you on the back for normal sexual relations. The third passage Humbert lays his fault all out on the table, but still justifies his emotional fight as an inevitable effect of which Annabel is to blame.

Response #4: Close Reading of Chapter 1

        Vladimir Nabokov appeals to the empathetic side of his audience in the first chapter of Lolita. Through the way he longingly and lovingly describes her name Nabokov is trying to remind us how strong a hold love can have on us. He even blames his love for Lolita on her predecessor. Nabokov attempts manipulating his audience into believing he was so powerless over his love for Lolita, because of how intense a yearning it was, he couldn't help but act on those emotions, "In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, a certain initial girl-child" (9). Nabokov utilizes a few different tools to seduce his audience into seeing through his eyes, such as writing with diction that softens the blow of their age difference, and tries to minimize his crime. 

         But at the same time he does not hesitate to address the situation, another manipulation technique by shaking his head at this mess he's in, and speaks to the jury head-on, "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns" (9). The manipulation and minimization is obvious and continues as themes throughout the rest of Lolita.

Response #3 Introduction/ Opening Chapter

        Through the introduction and chapters 1-10 Humbert illustrates his childhood and hypothesizes why he has such an impenetrable lust for , as he refers to them, "nymphets". Fighting guilt and his relentless lust Humbert tries to understand the root of his "sickness". Humbert's justifications are sound, if he was born in a previous time period, and pulls various examples. For instance, "Marriage and cohabitation before the age of puberty are still not uncommon in certain East Indian provinces. Lepcha old men of eighty copulate with girls of eight, and nobody minds. After all, Dante fell madly in love with his Beatrice when she was nine, a sparkling girleen, painted lovely, and bejeweled, in a crimson frock, and this was in 1274, in Florence, at a private feast in the merry month of May" (19). 

        I think his infatuation with these nymphets stems from the crippling love he experienced with Annabel, at the age of 9, because of the intensity he experienced as a boy, he chased that intensity as an adult, believing his craving could only be assuaged by another girl the same age as Annabel.
        His sexual sights did not mature as a result of this. Only achieving the same intensity with a prostitute, a matured nymphet, one can understand by Humbert's description why she was the only young woman to satisfy his hunger. Nabokov writes, "She came hardly up to my chest hair and had the kind of dimpled round little face French girls so often have, and I liked her long lashes and tight fitting tailored dress sheathing in pearl-gray her young body which still retained-and that was the nymphic echo, the chill of delight, the leap in my loins-a childish something mingling with the professional frétillement of her small agile rump" (21).
       This set up affects the reader in many ways; however, one in particular is most prominent. It allows the reader to humanize Humbert, regardless of his predatory instinct, and even allows the audience to root for him in his battle against these taboo feelings.

Response # 2 "yearnings of a bachelor..."

44: "yearnings of a bachelor..." plausible? his proposal

       In order to tell a successful lie it needs to be sewn together with bits of truth. That's exactly what the protagonist is doing while "courting" the widow. He is harboring the emotions he has for her daughter and transferring them onto her mother.
       His manipulation skills come alive within this passage. By admitting his, "yearnings of a bachelor who looks with envy at the tailcoat and misty aura of another's wedding and thinks involuntarily of the lonely grave at the end of his lonely road, he concluded the time had come to call the packers" (26). By showing so much vulnerability to the widow the predator has gained her trust by tricking her into pitying him.
       This was a vital move in the protagonist's chess game; gaining the widow's trust and proposing to her was check mate. All the man has to do from this point is wait patiently before he can reap the benefits. The girl's mother was her last defense against this predator, and she was so easily fooled. As soon as the widow let her defenses rest and allowed this wolf into the hen house my stomach dropped.

Response #1 "normal paternal zeal"

65: thinks of her body (again)...

"normal paternal zeal" - comic juxtaposition between normal and deviant

       The nameless protagonist, often referred to as "The man", repeatedly rationalizes his behavior by assuming a father figure. After all in his eyes his late wife had given him the responsibility of raising the young girl as his own daughter. On page 47 the man justifies his actions to himself, "... although what could be more natural than bringing home my little stepdaughter, deciding on it after all—they're cutting open her mother, aren't they?" Throughout the entire novel his internal conflict, between acting on his predatory impulses and being utterly disgusted with himself, dictates his actions.

       His most convincing justifications lay within the "normal paternal zeal". The juxtaposition between normal and deviant also reflect his state of mind, his psyche is split into predator and a sick helpless man. The man utilizes his normal stepfather responsibilities to complete his steps towards his goal of fondling the little girl. He must continue lying to himself to allow himself to carry out his next move towards his endgame without his conscious flooding his mind with disgust.

       This juxtaposition is the chess game embedded in his mind, the normal half of him is the white side of the board, while his deviant self is the black half of the board. It seems for every action, influenced by the black team, moving toward his endgame, for example, marrying the widow, is accompanied by a mirrored move by the white team, i.e. bringing the widow happiness in her final days. I find this juxtaposition has me rooting for him when his guilt dominates his actions and we see him for what he really is, a helpless man powerless over this mental illness. However, while he is lost in his self deception I find myself wishing him ill.