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True Love in Lolita

 

            When Vladimir Nabokov wrote the novel Lolita, he did not set out to write a controversial novel about pedophilia, but rather a book about true love. It is a story of an older French man in love with the forbidden young children in America and his journey through the love trials of his life. When one looks past the immediate moral issues, he will find that here is a novel of beautiful words with a much deeper meaning than the surface originally portrays. The entire love story can be summarized by one line of his book, "You see, I loved her. It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight."" (Nabokov, 270). .
             The beginning of the novel Humbert introduces us to his first love, Annabel. After Annabel's young death, Humbert recreates her through young school children, particularly Lolita. Annabel left an everlasting impression on Humbert. A spell that is not replaced later in his life by his wife or by any other female he encounters. Here is where Lolita enters the picture. Every "nymphet- that Humbert sees is not in actuality a sex-craved twelve year old, but instead a recreation of Annabel herself. Lolita, on the other hand, is a young girl who craves love and attention in anyway she can attain it. When Humbert first glimpses Lolita in the yard, he glimpses a sort of Annabel reincarnated as Lolita. This is the moment where he realizes that he loves Lolita, "at first sight."" Lolita clings to the affection that Humbert gives her and the only natural way that she knows how to return it is through the same kind of love that he is giving to her. .
             Having the affection from Humbert, Lolita naturally feels betrayed when he marries her mother while she is away at camp. She doesn't know however that his actions are out of pure love for her. "I am your father, and I am speaking English, and I love you."" (Nabokov, 150) Everything that Humbert does throughout his story is only for his love for Lolita.


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