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A Look at Victimization in Lolita.

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A Look at Victimization in Lolita.
Lolita is a complex story of passion, obsession, and manipulation. In the forward, Psychologist John Ray, Jr., introduces the story; "Lolita, or the Confession of a White Widowed Male,"(Nabokov, Vladmir Lolita, 3) as written by a middle-aged European pedophile named Humbert Humbert. The essentials of this title immediately strike you as controversial considering that a lolita is a promiscuous young girl and a confession is an admission of one's sins. Hum is viewed as the victimizer by others, but views himself as the victim. He blames Lolita for his disposition, but also feels responsible for causing Lolita so much pain. How can a twelve-year-old girl have so much power over an adult? Who is the victim and who is the victimizer? In the following essay this topic of discussion will be examined thoroughly as we explore Humbert and his love interest, Lolita. The novel is written in first person narrative which creates a pragmatic depiction of Humbert; an obsessive, disillusioned and deviant character. He is full of contradictions and says "I knew I had fallen in love with Lolita forever; but I also knew she would not be forever Lolita." (Nabokov, Vladmir Lolita, 7) which meant that he was conscious of the situation he was entering, however he made an excuse for himself to ease his conscious. In part one, you are taken back in time to Hum's childhood where you are introduced to his
Howell 2 childhood sweetheart, Annabelle. It then becomes evident that his obsession with Lolita started with Annabelle. He was haunted by the memories of his lost love, therefore the only way to kill Hum's pain was to incarnate Annabelle with another. Upon meeting Lolita, Humbert immediately recognizes the similarity between the two. "Lolita was a "fatal consequence of that "princedom by the sea" in my tortured past." (Nabokov, Vladmir Lolita, 11) Humbert becomes obsessed with Lolita, this obsession is displayed through his actions, behavior, dialect and need for total control.


References: Nabokov, Vladmir. Lolita. 1955. Print. Winston, Matthew. "Untitled." World Literature Criticism. James P. Draper. v4. London/Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1992. 2487. Print. Jong, Erica. "Untitled." World Literature Criticism. James P. Draper. v4. London/Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1992. 2501. Print. Wallace, Ronald. "Untitled." World Literature Criticism. James P. Draper. v4. London/Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1992. 2493-2494. Print. Rind, Brad. "Justifying Pedophillia". 1998. Web, May 1, 2010 http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2008/08/rind-study-justifying Papolos, Cockerham, Hennen "Juvenile Bipolar Research". Web. May 1, 2010 http://www.bpchildresearch.org/research/validation.html
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