Essay Draft 2 (ten pages, yo)

Many literary analysts swear that 'Lolita' by Vladimir Nabokov is “not about sex, but about love” (Piffer, 189). The metaphor-hungry critics eagerly exchange the literal pedophile in 'Lolita' for pedophilia's supposed synonym, "the American dream that yearns for perpetual youth" (Lee, 134). Webster's dictionary echoes perpetually that a “Lolita” is “a precociously seductive girl” (Piffer, 188). At times, Nabokov uses Humbert to sway the reader into this conclusion. At other times, Nabokov uses subtle indications of Lolita's pain to cause the reader to sympathize with her. For those who have sided with Humbert, they have avoided Lolita's clues.

Throughout 'Lolita', the reader's sexism is constantly exploited by Nabokov and subtly used by Humbert when he pleas his defense. As early as Gilgamesh, the first known text, a character named Enkidu is sexually manipulated by Shamhot the harlot. According to the Prostitutes Education Network, "Average prostitution arrests include 70% females, 20% male prostitutes, and 10% customers." The stigma that women use their sexuality as a power tool is oftentimes shown in literature, and female prostitution does little to distill the notion. 'Women's Sexuality Across the Life Span' summarizes sexual stereotypes regarding men:

"Men 'need' sex--women 'need' love. Men who love sex are normal--women who love sex are nymphomaniacs. Men who force themselves on women 'can't really help themselves'--women who give in 'really want it' (Daniluk, 214).
Fully understanding most reader's double standards for men and women, Nabokov wrote the rape scene in 'Lolita.' 'Casebook' describes this scene:

“Humbert depicts himself as a naive lover, confused and nervous...while [Lolita] is a corrupt, experienced, vulgar little girl, who knows no shame” (29). Notably, Humbert is a virgin before Lolita. Lolita asks him, "You mean, you never did it when you were a kid?" When Humbert answers, "Never" it is Lolita who replies, “Okay, here is where we start” and begins the sexual deed (Nabokov, 133). It is at this point that Humbert, in his inexperience in the sexual world, appears more innocent than Lolita. In reality, however, he is still the adult. As is indicated in previous portions of this novel, Humbert is fully aware that having sex with Lolita would both be illegal and scarring to the poor girl's childhood. Yet, it is Humbert who states, “ not a trace of modesty did I perceive in this beautiful hardly formed young girl, whom modern co-education, juvenile mores, the campfire racket and so forth had utterly and hopelessly depraved” (133, Nabokov). Nabokov knows cultural norms, and therefore he knows that most of his readers will view Lolita's sexual experience, in particular at the age of twelve, as proof that she is comfortable with sex. As for Humbert, he, as a man, is only a victim to this seductress.

When Lolita begins accepting cash payments in exchange for blow jobs, Lolita's transition from innocent and naive to prostitute truly seems complete. Even Humbert describes Lolita's acceptance of payment as, “a definite drop in Lolita's morals.” When Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt (WHISPER) wrote a statement separating themselves from the libertarian movement in prostitution, they described common perceptions of prostitution in saying:

"[many] brag about, celebrate, and profit from [prostitution]. 'Experts' or spokespersons...pimp prostitution as a pleasurable, lucrative, economic alternative that women freely choose, while they decline this 'choice' for themselves" (Hobson, 221).

'The Social Evil in Chicago', published by the Chicago Vice Commission in 1911, declared, "The first truth that the Commission desires to impress upon the citizens of Chicago is the fact that prostitution in this city is a Commercialized Business of large proportions with tremendous profits of more than Fifteen Million Dollars per year, controlled largely by men, not women" (Jaycox, 322). Faith Jaycox, author of 'The Progressive Era', goes on to say that, "No longer run by independent madams as it once was, prostitution reaped profits for a web of landlords, corrupt politicians and police, druggists, and doctors" (322). Nabokov knows that many feminists, and the public at large, consider prostitutes, and not the men who exploit them for sex, to be the real sinners. Certainly, this stigma has helped Humbert escape from moral prosecution and placed the blame entirely on Lolita.

The delivery of this scene as a source of comedy helps to both make Humbert less of a sinner and more of a likeable character. It also subtract from the tragedy and desperation involved in prostitution. Humbert says,

“O Reader...imagine me, on the very rack of joy noisily emitting dimes...and great big silver dollars like some sonorous, jingly and wholly demented machine vomiting riches; and in the margin of that leaping epilepsy she would firmly clutch a handful of coins in her little fist."

According to Piffer, “Humbert implicitly assumes that his (male?) readers will identify solely with his sexuality and sensibility.” Humbert says,

"[Lolita[ proved to be a cruel negotiator whenever it was in her power to deny me certain life- wrecking, strange, slow paradisaical philters without which I could not live more than a few days in a row , and which, because of the very nature of love's languor, I could not obtain by force.”

Indeed, with these words, Humbert is, comically so, the typical male: unable to deal with a few days without sex. In many ways, the image of the young Lolita already a skilled whore seems humorous, especially in its casual delivery. Humbert says, “Knowing the magic and might of her own soft mouth, she managed--during one school year!--to raise the bonus price of a fancy embrace to three, and even four bucks" (184, Nabokov). Soon it is revealed that the narrator has been stealing Lolita's money for fear she would runaway, which is extremely likely and an altogether serious matter that confirms Lolita's hatred for her rapist.

Nabokov's decision to have Humbert refer to Lolita as a nymphet takes advantage of the reader's association with mystical creatures and with children. Books like 'Lord of the Flies', where children are wild, murdering, and corrupt savages, reveal the common perception that children are completely vicious due to their lack of socialization. 'Mediated: How the Media Shapes your World and the Way You Live In it' states that Peter Pan, in many ways a tale of how adult's perceive children, "is all about instinct, imagination, and, above all, utter selfishness, the selfishness of children whose animal energies are intact, undiluted, compromised" (Zengotita, 48). The word “nymphet” perfectly matches the reader's interpretation of Lolita as a whimsical animal, and the reader's interpretation of children as untamed beasts. According to 'Casebook', “Being a nymphet, [Lolita] is not, according to his learned theories, a normal child anyway, but a demon disguised as a child.” In case our inbred perceptions of the word nymphet fail the reader, Humbert offers a definition:

"Between the age of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers, twice or many times older than they are, reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic. You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine...in order to discern at once, by ineffable signs...the little deadly demons among the wholesome children.”
Once Humbert refers to Lolita as a nymphet, she ceases to be human, and sympathizing with her becomes a great task.

Nabokov also uses the negative stereotype of Americans as shallow and popular culture obsessed in order to make Lolita less worth sympathizing. As Linda Kauffman, author of 'Special Delivery: Epistolary Modes in Modern Fiction' writes, “ Lolita is the ideal consumer: naive, spoiled, totally hooked on the gadgets of modern life, a true believer in the promises of Madison Avenue and Hollywood.” When she speaks, Lolita uses hip, chatty slang, as though a typical teenage stereotype. Aside from being the negative personification of America, Lolita is worse: she is the disgusting American teenager. When Humbert asks Lolita to describe her first sexual experience, Lolita, though twelve, is rambly like a teenager and appears to have very sexually adventurous, possibly older, friends. “Well, the Miranda twins had shared the same bed for years and Donald Scott, who was the dumbest boy in the school, had done it with Hazel Smith in his uncle's garage. And Kenneth Knight used to exhibit himself wherever and whenever he had the chance--” Lolita rambles away, sounding casual, like someone extremely comfortable with the idea of sex. She is interrupted, of course, by Humbert, the calm, eloquent voice. Humbert declares that Lolita called her sexual act with Charlie, “sort of fun” but adds that she “held Charlie's mind and manners in the greatest contempt” (137). This paints Lolita as someone so eager for sexual experimentation she would engage in sex with almost anyone, including the far older Humbert. As Kroes states in 'If You've Seen One, You've seen the Mall', "Whenever Europeans call Americans shallow or superficial--arguably the most common stereotype about Americans-- in the same breath they are also saying that Europeans are neither...naturally probing beneath the surface, or looking up from it, appreciative both of depth and elevation" (14). Humbert states, “If some cafe sign proclaimed Ice cold Drinks, she was automatically stirred, although all drinks everywhere were ice cold....She it was to whom ads were dedicated: the ideal consumer, the subject and object of every foul poster” (148). In reality, Lolita might be seeking any getaway possible. Each ad is an excuse to stop the car and run and not an indication that she is product-obsessed. As an American teenager, it is implied that Lolita simply does not have enough depth to feel actual pain for being raped. It also implies that Lolita could not possibly be raped, as she, a hormonal teenager throughout much of the novel, would consent to sex with anyone, even that chair you are sitting on.

The manipulated reader naturally ignores these clues, and will fail to notice that, at one point in the novel, Nabokov even parodies those who blame children for inviting rape. This comes in the form of a column that Lolita is reading entitled 'Let's Explore Your Mind.' The column asks the rhetorical question, "Would sex crimes be reduced if children obeyed a few don'ts?” It then relates advise to the child for avoiding rape, as though it were possible, “Don't play around public toilets. Don't take candy or rides from strangers. If picked up, mark down the license of the car" (165). Although this column is hidden among the many columns Lolita reads, it is equally revealing as a parody on the belief that children, such as Lolita, are to blame. The pedophile could not be given a guide to preventing himself from having sex with a younger person, as he cannot help himself and neither can society. This follows with details of Lolita's cheek, which are against Humbert's in a "recedent" manner, where in his cheeks are in a "pursuant" fashion. Then Humbert exclaims, "This was a good day, mark, O reader!" Nabokov asks the reader to notice that Humbert has just described Lolita as the receder, and Humbert as the pursuer. Nabokov views Lolita as the victim, even if he does not necessarily want his reader to do the same.

Nabokov leaves other clues that Lolita is the victim, including Lolita's pain and Humbert's lack of sympathy. After Humbert and Lolita have sex, Humbert notes that he feels "uncomfortable.” This is a weak word considering Humbert also states that sitting with Lolita feels to him like, "sitting with the small ghost of somebody I just killed" (Nabokov, 140). Even though Humbert is pleading his innocence throughout the novel, he admits to murdering Lolita's childhood. Then enters Lolita's pain. "As she was in the act of getting back into the car," Humbert details, "an expression of pain flitted across Lo's face.” Then, Lolita's persona does not match her words. She says, "You chump" and then "sweetly [smiles]" at Humbert as she says, "You revolting creature. I was a daisy-fresh girl, and look what you've done to me. I ought to call the police and tell them you raped me. Oh, you dirty, dirty old man" (141). Humbert asks, "Was she joking?" and then explains that "an ominous hysterical note rang through her silly words." Lolita's odd smile and usage of underplayed words like "chump" seem devoid of sincere pain, especially considering the physical pain that begins her miscarriage in the next few lines. Perhaps Lolita's reaction points towards her innocence – calling her rapist an “asshole” or a “pedophilia monster” seem more fitting than “chump”, but these are words the young twelve-year-old may not have encountered in her previously sheltered life, words she will embrace later during her boarding school days. Her smile seems the most out of place, and perhaps it was an invention of Humbert in order to convince himself her serious accusation of rape is only a light hearted joke. As Pifer, author of 'Casebook', notes, Lolita's pain reveals itself later for “a short moment, only to disappear again in Humbert's flow of rhetoric.” This happens when Humbert states, “Our long journey...in retrospect, was no more to us than a collection of dog-eared maps, ruined books, old tires, and her sobs in the night--every night, every night--the moment I feigned sleep '(178). While she is crying, Humbert notably “feigns sleep.” This moment is devoid of possibilities for sympathizing with Humbert, but it ends quickly.

While it is Lolita's smile that seems strange in this scene, in another scene it is her laugh that is off putting. Later in the novel, an older Lolita asks Humbert what the name of the hotel where she had been raped. She struggles to say it out loud at first. “What was the name of that hotel, you know, come on, you know, with those white columns and marble swan in the lobby...the hotel where you raped me...Okay, skip it,” Lolita asks, before she runs off “with a yellow of amorous vernal laughter” (202). Rather than asking Humbert why he he had raped her or even telling him that he is a despicable monster for doing so, she only wants to know the name of the hotel. Notably, she also laughs after, as though that night had been a comical moment in her life. However, the reader should not neglect that Lolita, held custody by Humbert, is not in a position where she can afford to show her true emotions.

Even when Humbert lets it slip that Lolita is in pain, he blames her hormones, a fair enough excuse to most of Nabokov's ageist readers. Humbert states, “Lolita could be the most exasperating brat. I was not really quite prepared for her fits of disorganized boredom, intense and vehement gripping, her dopey-eyed style.” Humbert describes this thirteen-year-old as bored, but mental anguish is likely the real source of her fretful nature. When Lolita confesses her hatred towards Humbert, it too is reminiscent of the angsty teenager, yelling at his or her parents. Humbert says, “[Lolita] made monstrous faces at me, inflating her cheeks and producing a diabolical plopping sound” (205). Rather than this moment being treated like a high point in Lolita's appropriate anger towards the man who raped her, she appears almost silly. During this outburst, Lolita coldly tells Humbert that “she would sleep with the very first fellow who asked her and [Humbert] could do nothing about it.” (205) This threat only makes Lolita appear like the teenager using sex as a tool for rebellion. Humbert, it seems, is the one who, unlike the sinful Lolita, actually appreciates the sacredness and love involved in sex.
During Lolita's time at Beardsley, however, Lolita is known even among her teachers for her supposed lack of sex drive. Pratt, a teacher at the school, says to Humbert, "Dolly Haze is a lovely child, but the onset of sexual maturing seems to give her trouble" (Nabakov, 193). To a confused Humbert, Pratt continues, "The biologic and psycho logic drives are not fused in Dolly...Dolly remains morbidly uninterested in sexual matters, or, to be exact, represses her curiosity in order to save her ignorance and self-dignity" (Nabokov, 193-195) . According to 'The Link Between Childhood Trauma and Mental Illness' by Barbara Everett and Ruth Gallop, "....The difficult or disturbing expression of sexuality reflect the nature of the abuse the survivor suffered in childhood (sex coupled with shame, violence, guilt, or pain). As their source, Everett and Gallop draw from a "New Zealand study of a broad community sample" that

"found that women with histories of sexual abuse reported more disruptions in communications, sexual relations, and intimacy than did non abused subjects...Research conducted among clinical populations shows similar findings...In addition, fear of sex, loss of enjoyment or interest in sex, and compulsive sexual behaviors have been well documented" (74-75).
In her actions, Lolita demonstrates a persistent fear of sex, which to many readers may seem the stereotypical response of a rape victim.

With her peers, however, Lolita uses highly sexual language. At one point in the novel, Lolita's friend remarks that Lolita's virgin wool sweater is, "The only thing about you that is [virgin] kiddo" (Nabokov, 191). Although this could mean that Lolita spoke about sex with her pretend step father with her friend, the casual, jokey tone of her friend suggests instead that Lolita bragged about sexual activities with another, probably several, males. Whitlock & Gillman state that for child rape victims,

"Sexuality is regarded not simply as a part of the self limited to genitals, discrete behaviors, or biological aspects of reproduction, but is more properly understood as one component of the total personality that affects one's concept of personal identity and self-esteem" ("Child Abuse Study").
During the conversation Humbert has with Pratt, it is revealed that Lolita inscribed the word “urinal” along with a four letter word on a health text book. Lolita appears to gain pleasure from obscenity as well as from bragging about her sexual activities, her outward demeanor could mean she defines herself and her worth very strongly on her ability to have sex with others who are not Humbert. While Nabokov is partially parodying therapists and their obsession with psychoanalysis during Humbert's scene with Pratt, this does not mean that Lolita is not struggling with school or exhibiting typical behaviors of rape victims. In the end, Lolita may be a parody of a stereotypical rape victim, but this does not make her any less a victim.

Even for those reader's that agreed Lolita's life with Humbert was miserable, Humbert makes an interesting case that Lolita would be better off with Humbert. Lolita is now described as having, “rope-veined narrow hands and goose flesh white arms and unkept armpits” (277). In stark contrast with the glowing young Lolita, this almost makes it appear as though Lolita was better, healthier, more alive with Humbert. However, Lolita preferred her new life over that with Humbert, a testimony to her hatred towards the man who raped her. Even if Dick is not the ideal man, at least now Lolita can make her own choices. Many readers, instead of supporting the female, would prefer to believe that Humbert could save Lolita from her sad adulthood. It is almost tempting to root for Humbert, as though he and Lolita could ever ride away into the sunset and live happily-ever-after.

When Lolita falls in love with Humbert's doppelganger, it seems to offer farther proof that Lolita craves abuse. It is supposedly Lolita's voice – despite the absence of quotation marks – that informs Humbert that, “[Quincy] was a great guy in many respects. But it was all drinks and drugs....He was a complete freak in sex matters, and his friends were his slaves.” The implication that Lolita is speaking disappears, and Humbert says, “She refused to take part because she loved him, and he threw her out” (276). When Humbert asks Lolita for more details, Lolita refuses because of “that baby inside her” (277). In some ways, this reads like it is really Lolita's innocence, still kept inside her stomach despite all her abuse from her mother, her school, Humbert, and Quincy, that Lolita does not want to completely kill by admitting to her dark sexual adventures. It seems like Lolita, who had been always seemed like that mystical, energetic nymphet spirit Humbert and Nabakov made her out to be, was broken by Quincy. However, even Humbert does not believe this. When Lolita rejects Humbert's offer to live with him, she “groped for words” until Humbert “[supplies] them mentally” and says for her, “He broke my heart. You merely broke my life” (279).

Nabakov then uses Humbert, with one final, dramatic show, to suggest Humbert was not a pedophile, but a man who happened to be in love with a twelve-year-old. Humbert describes how he still loves Lolita after all this time, even if she is no longer a nymphet. Humbert declares after seeing the seventeen-year-old Lolita, “...and I looked and looked at her, and knew as clearly as I am to die, that I loved her more than anything I had ever seen or imagined on this earth” (Nabakov, 277). He even goes so far as to plead with the reader to believe him. He addresses the jury, “You may jeer at me, and threaten to clear the court, but until I am gagged and half-throttled, I will shout my half-truth. I will insist that the world know how much I loved my Lolita.” As Pifer writes, “Seen that way for the first time--without his jesting pose, suffering for the pain he had inflicted on the girl, and realizing that his love transcends his passion--Humbert at last wins us over, just as the author intends” (35) In this confession of love, it is easy to forget that Humbert is Lolita's rapist. It is easy to forget that Lolita is still an underage seventeen-year-old.

Throughout 'Lolita', Nabokov demonstrates a great understanding of the sexism and ageism in his readers' culture and then Humbert uses these prejudices to manipulate the reader. Throughout history, females have been portrayed as devious sluts who use sex as a power tool to manipulate men whose unstoppable sexual desire is their only inbuilt flaw. Adults often associate teenagers as shallow beings with emotions that are not emotions at all, but hormone-triggered angst. In this way, Humbert has employed associations from our culture in order to trick the reader into siding with a pedophilia. When Humbert mentions Lolita's pain and reports on her tragic after life and eventual death, Lolita is a tragic figure, but only briefly and only subtly. When critics ignore these clues, Humbert trasnforms from a pedophile into a tragic figure who has been rejected and destroyed by his true love.