Addiction

“He is abnormal. He is not a gentleman. But how magically his singing violin can conjure up a tenderness, a compassion for Lolita that makes us entranced with the book while abhorring its author!”(John Ray, Jr) This is the best way to explain the narrator, Humbert.

Lolita is a drug that Humbert was addicted too. Many substance abusers use people to get to a source of “high”. They would make connections based on their needs, and quickly dissolve them. Humbert’s goal though the first part of the book was to get as close to Lolita as possible. He does this be getting closer to her family, and patiently waiting for the time he could be alone with her. He only married her mother in order to be with Lolita. The only two characters with any strong prominence in this book is perhaps Humbert and Lolita. Its as if he saw everyone else as throwaway characters. Not needed to tell a story. He was an addict, throwing all his recourses towards one material goal.

As a drug addict, he finds ways to justify his reasonings, Humbert already makes it clear that he is a pedophile. He speaks in length about his desire for Lolita. He describes his desires in a very passionate and poetic way. Never stooping to describe anything explicit or sexual. He keeps the audience at bay, revealing only enough information, little bit at a time. He also starts pointing out various “facts” of various cultures that practice some form of pedophilia in order to justify his lifestyle. He even tells the audience that what he does not harm anyone else, and does not cause any sort of trouble, that he wishes to be left alone. Humbert uses his speech in a very eloquent manner. He sounds like a charming man, with a great sense of the English language, but if we ever met him in person, how would he really be like?

The deepest and most subtle manipulation is the book itself. He is writing this memoir, and this gives him a lot of creative control over every situation in the stories presented to us. For me the entire book is one big manipulation. From his charming personality, to the death of his wife and every encounter he had. It seemed almost too fake for some of the situations to arise. The biggest thing that I find strange is his “charming” speech. There was a part in the book where he was wondering if he should send a telegram or call. if he had called, he could lapse into broken English. This could be a bit of the truth being revealed. He does come from another country; perhaps he fantasized about his personality to the point of him thinking it is true. Perhaps the real Humbert is a clumsy European with a sick mind and a huge ego, enough to morph him self into a figure for every reader to remember him by. I know that’s how I pictured him as I read through the book.