AP Lit Lolita essay

Words with friends: The Humbert Humbert edition The use of words, games, and games with words throughout Nabokov’s Lolita is remarkable in the sense that the reader is drawn in without even being cognizant of it. It is patent that the novel is abundant with games, but the biggest game of all is the one in which the reader participates. The novel creates a cycle: Humbert uses words to play games with the characters, and Nabokov uses words to manipulate the reader. In fact, Lolita is an enormous game in itself, and the reader is just an unaware pawn. The game-like qualities throughout Lolita heighten the reader’s interest while concurrently lowering the novel’s overall seriousness. However, Nabokov manages to manipulate the reader in such a way that the reader becomes a part of the game from the very first page but does not realize it until the very last. From the very beginning, Lolita presents itself as a game played with words. It is made apparent to the reader through the first person narrator Humbert Humbert. Although Humbert is a grown man, he still has the callow mindset of a child. He treats everything like one big game. A stellar example of such would be when Humbert plays and dupes Charlotte. [insert quote] He uses his suave and debonair personality to charm her. He knows she view him as an erudite and sedulous man, so he plays with her emotions and marries her. Humbert is repulsed by Charlotte, and he never fails to remind the reader of it. However, marrying Charlotte is all a part of Humbert’s ploy to capturing Lolita. He uses intricate words to woo Charlotte, and up until a few minutes before her death, she believes the façade Humbert put on that he is genuinely kind, brilliant, and committed. When Charlotte finds his papers and exposes the truth, the reader uncovers a bit of truth as well. Despite Humbert Humbert’s extensive vocabulary and panache, he is not a very nice person. In fact, he is rather cruel and heartless. However, the reader does not come to this realization until nearly half way through the novel. In the same way that Humbert uses his words to charm and impress Charlotte, he is able to charm and temporarily distract the reader from his wickedness with his words. One finds herself liking Humbert because of how classy and verbose he is while glossing over the fact that he is unscrupulous and callous. Humbert makes sure his word choice makes him come off as scholarly, sincere, and relatable. Humbert’s finesse, however, is surpassed only by Nabokov’s. Nabokov uses Humbert to play against the reader. [insert I ONLY HAVE WORDS TO PLAY WITH QUOTE]. Comparable to a Venus fly trap, Nabokov reels the reader in with a seemingly genuine Humbert. Once the reader takes to Humbert, she immediately becomes a part of the game. Once the reader becomes a pawn in the game, Nabokov is able to take it a step further. He goes beyond Humbert Humbert to deceive the reader even more, and Nabokov is able to simultaneously draw attention away from the lewd subject matter. He initially does this with Humbert’s droll personality. Humbert is humorous and amicable. Then he takes it even further. He has Humbert use quirky names like McFate and Lake Climax, names that seem too laughable to be real, and then there are the coincidences. The constant coincidences add humor to the novel. For instance Lolita’s address is 342 Lawn Drive, and she and Humbert check into 342 hotels during their road trip. Another instance is when Humbert tries to find ways to kill Charlotte, only for her to end up being hit by a car. Once the reader starts to recognize all the coincidences, it becomes arduous for one not to feel duped.