THREE hundred fifty words! Ha!

We have spent a great deal of time discussing Humbert Humbert, his lies and motivations, which makes perfect sense since he is the hero(?) of the novel. But we’ve spent very little time on Lolita herself. Her name is on the cover, so maybe we should turn our thoughts to that. And it is difficult to focus on what she thinks about all this. It’s mainly difficult because we see it all through Humbert’s lens.

In the beginning, it was she who initiated the sex, due to whatever crush she might have had on Humbert. But as time goes by, it seems that she is getting bored with it, and by page 192 (where I’m at now), she appears outwardly hostile toward it. During their trip across America, she is much more interested in sightseeing and movies than Humbert and his sex. Yet, and this is a big yet, she doesn’t leave. I know at first she doesn’t have anywhere else to go, but the guy is commiting statutory rape. At any point, she could have gone to the police and gotten away from him. Particularly when they settle down (Beardsley, is that the city’s name?), she could easily get away. And at one point Humbert believes she is saving money to do so. She refuses to bring attractive friends home, she spends a lot of time away from Humbert, and did I mention page 192?

But there must still be some knd of attraction, some desire for Humbert’s attention. She is not entirely hateful of him, the way she was of her mother. Even if he does almost have to bribe her to have sex with him, she still does it. Is it possible that it’s just become such a normal, routine act that she’s become apathetic toward it?

On page 186, Appel notes that Lolita is already spending some time with Quilty [more reading has confirmed this], so we have to assume storm clouds are strong in the sky. I’ve tried to find some positives about Lolita’s relationship with Humbert, but it seems to have dissolved into apathy and hatred, and I can find no real evidence of mutual admiration. So why does she stay?