Sunday, May 22, 2011
Money
Lolita runs away from Humbert. A few years later, she is married and has a husband. She writes to Humbert asking for money. When he visits her, he gives her four thousand dollars. Does Lolita ask for the money because she knows that Humbert will give it to her? It seems so. Since Lolita’s mother died, Lolita does not have anyone else. That is why she was with Humbert for so long. But even if Humbert would give her the money, why would she ask him? Would she not be afraid that he would then come back into her life? She was finally free of him for a few years. Maybe Lolita wants to give Humbert a second chance. Maybe since she was pregnant, she wants Humbert to realize that he should move on. Maybe since she does not have any other family, she wants Humbert to be a part of the baby’s life. Humbert gives Lolita the money because he claims to love her. I do not believe he actually loves her. I believe he loves the idea of her. He spent so much time and energy trying to make their relationship real that it is too hard for him to give up on it. Maybe Humbert gives Lolita the money for another chance at their relationship.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think Humbert gave her the money because he is still in love with her. Though I have been on Humbert's side the entire story, at first I did not believe his love for Lolita was genuine. I thought Humbert was infatuated with Lolita because she reminded him of his first love Annabel. Humbert manged to change my mind though in the last couple chapters, specifically when he sees Lolita as an adult, mother and wife. That being said, I believe the love he experiences with her now, is a fatherly love. Obviously, their father/daughter relationship was different from your average father and daughter, but in the end, I think he finds himself looking at Lolita as a grown woman and fully feels bad for what he did to her. I sense that he looks at her now and though he may feel a connection like he once did, he sees now that she has moved on and created an entirely new life without him. He wishes to protect her and that is why, in my opinion, he gives her the money.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Taylor. I think that Humbert Humbert gives Lolita the money because he loves her in a sense where as long as she is protected and happy, he will be too. Sometimes people have to let others go and be happy for themselves because they love them enough to do so. I feel like Humbert Humbert truly loves Lolita, which is why he gives her the money to survive. Lolita needed the money. Humber Humbert loves her that much that he did not want to see her struggle and suffer. Even though he does not think he has another chance at the relationship, he will always be there for her whether or not there is that same affection between them.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, Taylor and Ashley, I disagree with you. Humbert went to Lolita's home, knowing she wanted money, and planned to kill her husband. His pride was at stake. Humbert does give Lolita money, but not before asking her to run away with him. Having Lolita to himself was still on his mind. He does not love Lolita in a fatherly manner. "I want you to leave your incidental Dick, and this awful hole, and come live with me, and die with me, and everything with me" (Nabokov 278). However, to his disappointment, Lolita did not love him the way in which he had hoped. I feel Humbert ultimately gives Lolita the money out of guilt. He knows he had stripped Lolita of a part of her childhood that she can never retrieve. If he thought sixty five cents was enough to make Lolita masturbate him, he surely thought 4,000 dollars would buy her forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Humbert Humbert gave Lolita the money because he played the role of her father. Although it was not the conventional father/daughter relationship, as Taylor noted, Humbert still cared for and looked after Lolita in the way a father normally would. I agree with you, Melissa, that Humbert may have only given Lolita the money due to his guilt. But I do not believe that Lolita was afraid of a relationship with Humbert developing again, otherwise she would not have tried to get in touch with him. Maybe Humbert did give Lolita the money because he did not want to know she was suffering, but had she suffered enough? Or is it her fault that their relationship elevated to what is was? Either way, Humbert was caring enough to give Lolita the money with no questions asked. He thought by giving her the money, she might have gone back with him. Knowing that there was a possiblity that she would say no, he still offered her, and gave her, the money.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Ali. It seems as though Lolita takes advantage of Humbert throughout the novel. He expresses his willingness to give her whatever she wants or needs regardless of if she will take him back. Lolita clearly has no intention of returning to Humbert. It is this situation that shows Humbert’s true obsession with Lolita, which differs from Lolita’s selfish wants. I disagree that Lolita would consider giving Humbert another chance. I believe she took the money because she is manipulative. Although he says he does not need her back, it is clear that Humbert gave Lolita the money because he desires to be with her. I believe it is not love, but Humbert’s passion for nymphets and Lolita’s selfish desires.
ReplyDelete