Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, Lolita, does not portray the same story and the movie. The novel allows the reader to interpret Humbert and Lolita’s relationship as either mutual or one-sided. I personally believe that a young girl could never initiate a relationship with a grown man, but the movie is not open to the same interpretation. In the movie, Lolita is portrayed as an older looking girl and clearly responsible for seducing Humbert. Was the novel written with the intent to make readers side with Humbert? I believe that because Humbert is the narrator of the story, readers tend to understand his perspective. While to some he may be seen as innocent because the story is written from his point of view, I believe he is guilty of being a pedophile.
The contrast between the novel and movie becomes clear in the scene in which Humbert picks up Lolita from Camp Q. The book portrays Humbert’s inappropriate thoughts as he plots to “whizz over to Camp Q, tell Lolita her mother was about to undergo a major operation at an invented hospital, and keep moving with my sleepy nymphet from inn to inn while her mother got better and better and finally died” (Nabokov 106). Contrasting the novel, the movie shows that Humbert is lying to Lolita to protect her and does not show much emotion or excitement about seeing her. I believe the movie was made to persuade viewers to see Lolita as a seductive, shady character. Also, the novel was written in Humbert’s perspective to make readers sympathize with him, however, I do not.
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