Literary Analysis Of Lolita Questioning Whether It Mirrors The Contemporary Society

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Literary Analysis of Lolita— Questioning Whether It Mirrors the Contemporary Society

Lolita, authored by Vladimir Nabokov in 1955, is perhaps one of the interesting novels in

history. It has been extensively analyzed (Luxemburg 1). The piece of literature can be argued to

be controversial by the themes it addresses, yet it is interesting by the way it vividly provides an

account of the narrator, a middle-aged man by the pseudonym Humbert who is obsessed with

having sex with underage girls. It is essentially a narrative of the relationship between Humbert

and his sexual obsession with Dolores Haze, a 12-year-old girl whom he nicknames as “Lolita”

and whom he is eventually sexually involved upon becoming her step-father. Originally, the

novel was written in English and later translated into Russian. Because of its interesting plot, the

story was accorded classic states, further adapted into films, and even stage performance, and

still enjoys popularity.

With several years gone down since it was first written, it is interesting to question

whether the film is still relevant to the contemporary society. Does it even effectively reflect the

ways of the society at the time it was written? Does it appeal to the contemporary society in the

same vein? Does Lolita even deserve the acclamations? Such questions are motivated by the

view that the successfulness and relevance of a piece of any literature are attested based on how

it mirrors the ways of the prevailing socio-cultural environment. A reflection on the thematic

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subject of the novel reveals that it is both relevant to the contemporary society just as it was in

the past because it effectively addresses thematic issues such as violence, relationship problems

and romance, which have always been part of human life.

Thematic Analysis

The thematic concern of the Lolita can be seen to be largely centered on relationship,

which is characterized by various issues such as violence, unfaithfulness, premarital sex,

financial problems, child defiling, lust, pornography, romance and prostitution. Indeed, the novel

presents various scenes of relationships, all of which happen to be so problematic in nature that

nothing seems to work. For instance, upon the death of his mother, Humbert starts visiting

prostitutes at a young age (Nabokov 2).

However, they do not seem to satisfy him unless they have a nymphet resemblance. At

some moment he marries Valeria, a polish woman, but the relationship is short-lived because she

admits having a side affair. In real sense, however, Humbert is suffering from hebephilia, a

condition that makes him attracted to underage girls. His visit to Charlotte also results in a

problematic relationship characterized by life-threatening love triangle. On one hand, Charlotte

is attracted to him and demands that he marries her. On the other hand, aggravated by his

hebephilia condition, Humbert is attracted to Dolores, Charlotte’s daughter who is only 12.

Confronted with a tough choice to make, Humbert opts to marry Charlotte, but later starts

to scheme a plan to kill Charlotte to find his way to Dolores’ love. However, his plot is

discovered and results in a relationship conflict that claims Charlotte’s life in a car crush. Her

death only paves way for Humbert to pursue his malicious plans to establish a romantic

relationship with Dolores. He succeeds and both run an intimate relationship that does not last

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long. It is during the time that it also occurs that Doleres, despite being only 12 years old, broke

her virginity already following an early intimate relationship. Such a scenario vividly presents

themes of teenage sex, premarital sex and child defilation.

Later, their relationship is riddled with unfaithfulness. The unfaithfulness is, for example,

depicted when Doleres later engages in a relationship with Quilty behind Humbert back. In fact,

it is Quilty who eventually abducts her from Humbert. Even then, their relationship does not

last, and only paves the way to Doleres marriage to Richard Schiller, whom they have a baby

while she is only 17. This scenario creates the allowance to infer the theme of teenage pregnancy

and marriage in the novel. The theme of financial problems is revealed when Doleres resorts to

calling Humbert to ask him for assistance with 400 dollars because of the financial pressure.

Humbert responds by helping her generously. Such assistance causes Doleres to start feeling

attracted to him again. Since she is now older and a little mature, Humbert is no longer interested

in her.

The theme of violence is revealed when Humbert is pained by the early abduction of

Dolores and wants to revenge by killing the person who was responsible. He establishes the

abductor to be Quilty, whom he eventually tracks and kills. This act causes Humbert to be

imprisoned. Early on, the novel also presents themes such as pornography when Quilty wanted

Dolores for pornographic filming.

How the Novel Mirrors the Society

The novel can be seen to mirror the society because of the themes that it advances.

Indeed, the themes such as violence, unfaithfulness, premarital sex, financial problems, child

defiling, lust, pornography, romance and prostitution have been society’s commonplace, be it in

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the past at the time the novel was authored, or now when the story continues to receive classical

acclamation.

The problems of marriage and divorce have been all too common in history and have

continued to feature in different forms of literature (e.g. Kirsten, Kirstin, Kaye Anne, Rebecca,

and Kyle 1), revealing that nothing seems to have changed much since the novel was authored.

People have continued to pursue love. Some have often succeeded in building long lasting

marriages, but others fail. For those who fail, some break-ups have been characterized by

violence. The cases of domestic violence are common (McGarry 1). The stories of love-triangle

turning tragic, such as lovers killing each other, have been reported. The causes of break-ups are

varied, including unfaithfulness or diminished love.

The stories of lust for sex have all been common in history, and are still common in the

present times. People continue to get into relationship driven by lust, rather than true love as the

conventional morality demands. Prostitution was also common in the past just as it is in the

contemporary society. With the growing social disparities and dwindling employment

opportunities, women have turned to prostitution as a way of earning income. The financial

challenge continues to be a problem for many people, as a large population continues to live in

poverty. These financial challenges continue to make people survive through borrowing.

The issues of child defiling, premarital sex and teenage pregnancy are also common in

the contemporary society just as they were in the past. The society has been continuously

preaching against these evils but they have defied the laws and the moral standards. The cases of

child defilement are a common crime just like teenage pregnancy.

Conclusion

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In conclusion, the aim of this paper has been to examine the relevance of the novel,

Lolito, questioning whether it consistently mirrors the ways of the past and modern society. The

discussion is motivated by the view that the successfulness and relevance of a piece of any

literature is attested based on how it mirrors the ways of the prevailing socio-cultural

environment. A look at the thematic subject of the novel reveals that it is both relevant to the

contemporary society just as it was in the past because it effectively addresses issues such as

violence, relationship problems and romance, which have always been part of human life and

even covered in literature.

It is established that the thematic concern of the Lolita can be seen to be largely centered

on relationship, which is characterized by various issues such as violence, unfaithfulness,

premarital sex, financial problems, child defiling, lust, pornography, romance and prostitution.

Therefore, the novel can be seen to mirror the society because of the themes that it advances.

Indeed, the presented themes have been society’s commonplace, be it in the 1950 at the time the

novel was authored, or now when the story continues to receive classical acclamation. The story

creates the allowance to assert that the novel is dedicated to the contemporary society. It is

particularly presented to the follies in the evil society to encourage them to renew their ways of

life to change the course of the modern world, and dedicated to the righteous to give them a

reason to continue condemning the evils.

Work Cited

Kirsten, Gravningen; Kirstin, Mitchell; Kaye Wellings; Anne, Johnson; Rebecca, Geary; and

Kyle, Jones. Reported reasons For breakdown of Marriage and cohabitation in Britain:

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Findings from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. PLOS ONE

(2017):1-13

Luxemburg, Alexander. The Mystery of Vladimir Nabokov’s Sources: Some New Ideas on

Lolita’s Intertextual Links. Connotations 14: 1-3

McGarry, Julie. Domestic violence and abuse: an exploration and evaluation of a domestic abuse

nurse specialist role in acute health care services. Journal of Clinical Nursing,

26((2017):1-24.

Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. Olympia Press, 1955. Print

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Literary Analysis of Lolita Questioning Whether It Mirrors the Contemporary Society

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