Lolita By Vladimir Nabokov

Delatorre 1

Griselda Delatorre
November 30, 2011
English 101 Boutry
M W 11:10-12:35

Pedophilia

Lolita, the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, tells the story of Humbert Humbert, who is a perfect example of a pedophile. Dolores "Lolita" Haze becomes the sexual object of a pedophile's desires and is left unprotected with the sudden death of her mother. Although the character Humbert Humbert describes his feelings toward the twelve year old Lolita as love, in actuality, it is obsessive lust. Nabokov does an excellent job displaying the characteristics of pedophilia through this character. In developing this point, I will examine pedophilia and its clinical characteristics as they relate to Humbert Humbert and our society. Pedophilia is
Little girls that came his way before Lolita, he describes as nymphets too. The history of the word "nymphet" in English does not go beyond 1955 when the novel Lolita was published because its first use is in the novel. It was introduced into English by Mr. Humbert Humbert himself. According to Humbert, a nymphet possesses magic that best works on men "twice or many times older than themselves." He does not understand this magic. He writes, "A greater endeavor lures me on: to fix once for all the perilous magic of nymphets.." (Nabokov 126) In fact, he himself sees the destructiveness and vengefulness of the nymphet through his use of the word "perilous" meaning full of danger or
Humbert exploits Lolita, takes advantage of her innocence, and manipulates her. His lust for her overrides any emotion he feels in her resistance towards him. Humbert is aware of her suffering, and for a moment he feels sadness for her, but his list quickly possesses him into his own self-regard for pleasure. Lolita tells Humbert she is sore and in pain from the night he took advantage of her, but he is only focused on the thoughts of his own self-fulfillment acts that ultimately leads to causing her more pain. "When I try to analyze my own cravings, motives, actions and so forth, I surrender to a sort of retrospective imagination which feeds the analytic faculty with boundless alternatives and which causes each visualized route to fork and re-fork without end in the maddeningly complex prospect of my past." (Nabokov Part One, Ch. 4) By this quote, It is clear that Humbert will go to great extremes to satisfy his needs. Since every individual is different, there are many reasons why a person may become a pedophile. Most researches say that Pedophilia is probably a result of psychological factors. There are theories that Pedophilia is the result of being sexually abused as a child. If a pedophilic person was sexually abused as a child they may be more likely to sexually abuse children. Another possible cause of Pedophilia is arrested emotional development,