Obsessions Of A Pedophile
The relationship between Humbert Humbert and Lolita, is highly undefined. Many readers who have read Lolita find it to be based on “lust”, while others find Humbert to truly be in “love” with his Lolita. However, there is evidence that Humbert’s desire for Lolita is based on some obsessive-compulsive behavior which he cannot control, and therefore keeps returning for her. Humbert’s obsessions can be clearly recognized in his behaviors when looked upon in H. R. Beech’s Obsessional States and Andrew Brink’s Obsession and Culture: A Study of Sexual Obsession in Modern Fiction’s perception of what obsession is. Humbert’s obsessional tendencies are displayed in many passages through his descriptive word choices and his over bearing personality, such as when he describes Lolita after returning from camp to be, “…all rose and honey, ressed in her brightest gingham, with a pattern of little red apples,…with scratches like tiny dotted lines of coagulated rubies, and the ribbed cuffs of her white socks were turned down.” Obsession can be a difficult subject because there is not a finite definition of what obsession really is. Who determines what obsession is? When does deep admiration pass and obsession b
Humbert’s obsessiveness is also conveyed through the words he uses, and the descriptions he gives; his language conveys obsession. For instance, after Humbert’s first sexual encounter with Lolita he describes her as “brown, naked, frail Lo, her narrow white buttocks to me, her sulky face to a door mirror, stood arms a akimbo, feet (in new slippers with pussy-fur tops) wide apart…”(Nabokov, 137-138). By remembering such detail while in jail years after the incident it seems quite clear that Humbert had an obsessive nature. This is also conveyed when he describes Lolita as “naked, except for one sock and her charm bracelet, a velvet hair ribbon was still clutched in her hand; her honey-brown body, with the white negative image of a rudimentary swimsuit patterned against her tan” (125). Lolita is a very complicated novel to analyze due to the many interpretations made by different individuals. However, it is apparent that Humbert was suffering from some sort of obsessive disorder. It is apparent merely in what Humbert talks about and how he says it. There are few instances in the novel where Humbert is not speaking about Lolita or fascinating about having absolute domination over nymphets. First, Brink argues that most people have an obsessional defense, and this defense is brought out of men due to their fear of women. More specifically, this defense mechanism is explained as the “internalization of bipolar impulses to both accept and reject the same attachment object…” (195). He further describes it as “…a defense in
Some topics in this essay:
Charlotte Lolita,
Walking Quilty’s,
Andrew Brink,
Modern Fiction’s,
Charlotte Valaria,
Humbert Lolita,
Haze Humbert,
Jack Rachman,
Charlotte Humbert,
Furthermore Humbert,
throughout novel,
reader believe,
kill charlotte,
control humbert,
obsessional defense,
definition obsession,
fear women,
control control,
humbert tries,
novel humbert,
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Approximate Word count = 1054
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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