Lolita Sparknotes

Lolita, is a well written, yet horrifically plotted novel that was written by Vladmir Nabokov. The novel follows the life story of a man named Humbert Humbert. Humbert was raised at his father’s hotel resort since a young age, where he was a single child and often left alone to his inventions because his mother died when he was young. He was always lavished with attention from the ladies that visited the resort as they all felt terrible for him having to grow up motherless. As time passes, He grows up to be a gentleman. In his young teenage years, he meets a young lady named Annabelle who catches his fancy. They fall in “love” and spend the summer trying to have sex but always being interrupted. Eventually Annabelle leaves and a few months …show more content…
He marries a woman named Valeria due to her nymphet like qualities. However, he is soon unsatisfied with her and simply uses her for satisfaction to keep his mind away from “nymphets”. Due to his lack of attention and love towards her, Valeria cheats on Humbert with a cab driver whom she falls in love with. She tells Humbert about her love when he tries to leave for America with her. “She answered (I translate from her French which was, I imagine, a translation in is turn of some Slavic platitude): “there is another man in my life.”” (Nabokov 27) She leaves Humbert for the cab driver and Humbert leaves for America. His relationship with Valeria foreshadows his relationships with both Charlotte and Lolita. Humbert uses Charlotte to grow closer to Lolita, whom he as a sick fascination for. Just like Valeria, Humbert used Charlotte and toyed with her affections for him to get what he …show more content…
He married her to distract himself form “nymphets”. “My choice, however, was prompted by considerations whose essence was, as I realized too late, a piteous compromise.” (Nabokov 25) This quote describes how Valeria was poor substitute for a “nymphet”. As she saw what kind of man he was, and began to feel her own feelings shrivel away, she found someone else to love. The love she had with the cab driver made her realize she needed to leave Humbert. This is the same for Lolita. Lolita was sheltered because of Humbert and did not realize what they were doing was wrong. Once she began exploring the world, and grew relationships, especially when she fell in love with Quilty, she realized Humbert was a terrible, sick minded man. She also realized she needed to get far away from him. Even though Humbert is both “betrayed” by Valeria and Lolita leaving him, he responds very differently. He quickly gets over Valeria leaving him. However, he his vengeful and horrid about Lolita leaving him and eloping with Quilty. The reason behind this is because he did not have feeling for Valeria. Humbert loved Lolita, he coveted her, however she left him for another man and that destroyed him. Even though everything he did is sickening, one must feel pity for Humbert, to be betrayed by one he felt so strongly about, even if it was