For a moment, we were both in the same warm green bath of the mirror
that reflected the top of a poplar with us in the sky. Held her roughly by
the shoulders, then tenderly by the temples, and turned her about. "It's
right there," she said. "I can feel it." "Swiss peasant would use the top of
her tongue." "Lick it out?" "Yeth. Shly try?" "Sure," she said. Gently I
pressed my quivering sting along her rolling salty eyeball. "Goody-goody,"
she said nictating. "It is gone." "Now the other?" "You dope," she
began, "there is noth--" but here she noticed the pucker of my approaching
lips. "Okay," she said cooperatively, and bending toward her warm upturned
russet face somber Humbert pressed his mouth to her fluttering eyelid. She
laughed, and brushed past me out of the room. My heart seemed everywhere at
once. Never in my life--not even when fondling my child-love in
France--never--
Night. Never have I experienced such agony.
This quote occurs shortly after Humbert meets Lolita and marks one of his first ever close encounters with her. In this passage, Humbert uses his tongue to remove an eyelash that was stuck in Lolita's eye. The language and literary devices present in the passage help further reveal the intentions of Humbert in the story.
Through the gratification he receives, Humbert communicates through this passage the intense and passionate feelings of pleasure and infatuation he receives from simple interactions with Lolita. Because of the illegal and immoral nature of Humbert's secret pleasure, one can assume that he almost never experiences the feelings he described above, both emotional and sexual. For this reason, the smallest interaction he has with a true nymphet like Lolita sends him into a state of euphoria. He communicates his feelings of pleasure when he states, "My heart seemed everywhere at once," and that he had experienced this, "never in his life." In addition to feeling pleasure, Humbert reveals that he would like to take his relationship and interactions further with Lolita if he had the chance. By saying, "Never have I experienced such agony," Humbert reveals that while "fondling" Lolita, he had ached with agony to do more to her. Overall this passage helps give the reader a view of how Humbert views Lolita only in a sexual and objectifying way due to her physical traits. Even when she is doing a mundane task such as removing dirt from her eye, Humbert can only focus on violating her body because she displays the characteristics of his dream girl. He even reveals that he is drawn to her rose colored "russet face," which is typically a feminine trait. Readers can also look through the feminist lens and reveal that by being attracted to the societal standards of beauty, being young, sweet, and feminine, the author is perpetuating harmful and sexist standards for women.
In addition, the author also intensifies the passage by using an intimate tone, imagery, and dialogue. By showing an interruption of dialogue, the author reveals that Humbert is so drawn to Lolita, he can't even listen to her finish her sentence and helps himself to lick her eyeball. In this way, the author is using dialogue to demonstrates Humbert's intense attraction to Lolita. Also, the author uses an intimate tone and imagery to make the passage much more passionate. By describing the taste and color of Lolita by saying "salty," and, "russet," the author helps create a picture for the author that helps him/her view the situation. Also, by using words such as "fondling," which has a sexual connotation, and describing the act of licking her eye in such detail, the author gives this passage an intimate feeling.
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