The novel Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, opens up with Humbert Humbert, a criminal who is giving his testimony to the jury. He reads from his book, which displays the events that led to his criminal actions as well as his motives behind them. By opening up with this beginning, the author adds a degree of unreliability through the narrator, because readers are not sure if he is narrating the events truly and accurately, or lying to make himself seem like a victim to the jury. As the story progresses we learn that Humbert Humbert had a teenage childhood love named Annabel that died. Humbert states that his reason for pursuing young girls, or "nymphets" is due to his lost love that scarred his heart forever. Humbert, now an English teacher, marries an adult woman named Valeria after almost getting beaten up by a pimp for being in a conflict with a prostitute that pretended to be young. Valeria cheats on Humbert with an old army guy and they get married, leaving Humbert angry and lonely. He then moves to Boston where he hopes he can do stuff with a young girl living there. Finding that her house burned down, he reluctantly moves in to the Haze household, where he meets twelve year old Dolores "lo" Haze, whom he nicknames Lolita. He occasionally fondles her secretly and keeps a weird diary about it. The mom then tells Humbert to marry her or he gets kicked out and Humbert is forced to accept. Humbert's wife then find the diary and confronts Humbert, and is immediately and ironically killed accidentally by a car. Then Humbert takes Lolita away and tells her that her mom is dead and then they do sexual acts, but it is unclear who initiated them (probably Humbert though). After that Humbert and Lolita live together in a relationship where she is reluctant to have sexual relations. Humbert, jealous of Lolita's teenage friends, gets super strict with her. Humbert offers to not be so strict in exchange for sexual favors, and Lolita agrees. Lolita is then able to conspire with others to escape Humbert when she fakes being sick and is left alone in a hospital. Humbert is then sad for years and has a short thing with a girl named Rita, who is okay with his Lolita search. Then he gets a letter and reads it and it explains how Lolita is poor, pregnant, has a new bf, and needs money. Humbert visits, gives money, asks for her back, fails when he meets her new husband, wishes her well, and leaves. He also learns in his encounter that Lolita's old teacher, Quilty, who is also into child porn, was the one who abducted her from the hospital, and Humbert murders him with his gun. However, Humbert is caught driving away when he speeds and is put in jail where his lawyer releases his manuscript. In the last word we learn that Lolita dies in childbirth at 17 years old, which is ironic because Humbert constantly stated that she would outlive him but she didn't. (sorry for the lazy summary). Humbert dies shortly after in prison. The end.
Through reading this book and analyzing through the feminist lens, I have learned many things. The first thing I learned was how hard a book could be to interpret. This book took so many turns so fast and it left me wondering who the true victim was, through the author's use of unreliable narrator and morally ambiguous characters. I learned how these elements can play a huge role into the complexities of novels and how they may stir up many different routes of interpretation. I used the lessons I learned in literature this year to draw parallels to other stories, think of hidden motives, and analyze tone to help me truly understand the thoughts and actions of characters in the story. By using the lessons we were taught in English this year, I was able to grow as a reader by going beyond analyzing text, but rather analyzing the style of how it was written.
I also learned how consistently pursuing a harmful habit due to a flaw in character may lead to tragic consequences. In the story, Humbert kept pursuing Lolita, although he knew of the damage it could cause to Lolita and the illegal nature of his actions. His pursuit ultimately led to his own grief and sadness that would cause him much pain in the final hours of his life. I can relate this to my life because my brother, who served as a role model throughout most of my life, was destroyed by an unhealthy obsession. Through reading this book, I have gained more of an understanding on human behavior and why people act the way they do. I have also learned the consequences of potentially acting on a tragic flaw within ourselves. I interpreted the main theme from this main book as a lesson that people should not take advantage of a young person's innocence or harm others, no matter how much you are attracted to them. Through this message, I have learned the importance of being aware of how your actions affect others, and ending those actions if they cause any type of pain. By being more aware of how my actions affect others, this novel has helped me grow as a person.
I have also grown by analyzing through the feminist lens. By reading through the feminist lens, I caught instances of subtle sexism or harmful ideas about gender roles that I would have not recognized if I had not been reading through this lens. These new ideas were mostly revealed when I read the article for the Critical lens expert blog. I learned how this book perpetuates harmful ideas such as the sexual silencing of women, the verbal silencing of women, the praise of sexuality in young men, society's harmful ideas of conventional attractiveness, and general sexism and favoring men over women in the novel. I saw similarities and metaphors I would have never understood by just looking at the book myself. This came as a huge shock to me because I am a male and don't have access to the experiences of a woman.
This is just a short summary of what I learned through analyzing Lolita. If you wish to see how I've grown as a person or have learned the lessons that I have, you should read the rest of my blog posts.
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