BLOG POST - LOLITA

The novel Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, centers around the middle aged Humbert Humbert. As a boy, Humbert embarked on an incomplete and tragic romance with the young Annabel Leigh, a 'nymphet', or young, sexually appealing girl from the ages of 9 to 14. Later in life, Humbert sustains an attraction to nymphets. The novel chronicles his relationship with the titular twelve year old, Lolita. Through skillful, persuasive narration and a solipsistic case of self-delusion, Humbert nearly manages to paint himself as a sympathetic pedophile. The horrorific nature of his acts go entirely ignored, and one can speculate that major events in the story were completely fabricated. For this reason, Lolita's Humber Humber  is one of the most definitive portrayals of an unreliable narrator in the history of literature.

One way Humbert is unreliable is in his portrayal of his relationship with Lolita. Throughout the text, he is adamant in his believe that she is 'smitten' with him, and when it finally comes time to consummate their relationship, he insists that she seduces him and initiates sex on her own. He claims that Lolita is the one in control of their relationship and that he is 'powerless beneath her', and yet by virtue of holding the money and the power in the relationship, and simply because he is an adult and Lolita is a child, it's clear that Humbert has the upper hand. He also threatens her with promises of foster care and juvenile detention if she tells the police about his taking advantage of her, and drills it into her head that she will have nowhere to go if she leaves him. This is not the behaviour of a man at the mercy of a girlchild's whims, if such a thing was possible in the first place. When their relationship begins to crumble,  he becomes domineering and controlling. When Lolita understandably begins to throw tantrums and flinch away from his touch, Humbert reads this not as a confused young girl terrified of an adult's unwanted sexual advances. He doesn't consider for a moment the idea that Lolita does not reciprocate his feelings.

Another way Humbert is an unreliable narrator is in his use of language. Often he tries to portray himself as the kind of man that readers would want to agree with: he is educated, European, an established intellectual and self purportedly handsome. He's often able to persuade readers into seeing his perspective through false erudition and sincerity. He adopts a self mocking, ironic tone to make himself more relatable to his readers. But if you disregard his clever linguistics and winning personality, what lies beneath is a horror story.

In conclusion, Humbert Humbert is an unreliable narrator.

(I've had a tough night.)