The Effect of Language in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita

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The Effect of Language in Lolita

What really is reality? How can we define reality? The very nature of such a subjective subject means that there are as many answers as there are questioning minds on the planet. Therefore, reality can only be defined as what it means to each of us. We learn particular ways of looking at life from our experiences, which we gain from our interactions with others. This is the basis of an elaborate theory called "the social construction of reality." In modern America, one of the largest social groups to which we can belong, certain values are instilled into our impressionable minds; for example, not many of us would accept pedophilia. Or would we? What if our interactions with others molded our susceptible minds so well, and so discreetly, that we came to casually accept pedophilia without knowing we were being deftly manipulated? This is the magic of Lolita, which does just that. The richness and playfulness of Humbert's prose; prominent allusions; foreshadowing; and eloquence; makes it difficult to relate to Humbert as anything less than a masterful lyricist, much less a pedophilic murderer, and pushes the reader to twist ethics until the situation is no longer seen from society's eyes, but from Humbert's. In fact, the complex riddles that Vladimir Nabokov employs beyond Humbert's own words, which further include such devices as foreshadowing and obscure jokes, cause us to become so absorbed in the cleverness of the book and its author that we nearly dismiss pedophilia as second nature to the intricate use of language. Once our morals are firmly in place, it's difficult for us to imagine them being warped or even forgotten, but Lolita manages to make us question th...

... middle of paper ...

...ook down and feel pity for Humbert when Lolita runs away, then realize that we felt pity when we should have felt vengeance.

Works Cited

Couturier, Maurice. "The Poerotic Novel: Nabokov's Lolita and Ada." 27 Jan. 2002. <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/iasweb/nabokov/coutur1.htm>

Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. New York: Vintage, 1955.

Rivers, J.E., Charles Nicol. Nabokov's Fifth Arc: Nabokov and Others on his Life's Work. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982.

Wood, Michael. The Magician's Doubts: Nabokov and the Risks of Fiction. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.

Poe, Edgar Allen. "Edgar Allen Poe - The Academy of American Poets." 16 Mar. 2002. <http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=2212>

Eliot, T.S. "Ash Wednesday by T.S. Eliot." 16 Mar. 2002. <http://web.mit.edu/ashah/www/ashwed.html>

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