Style

After reading the second section of Lolita I have really caught on to some of Vladimir Nabokov stylistic decisions. In the first section I was really focused on the meaning of what was being said but this section on focused on the style. I found that the narration and descriptions played a key role in the understanding of this section.

First off I noticed that Humbert is a strange character, obviously this is seen as a given because we know that he is a character who has a love for "nymphets", also known as little girls. But I am not talking about him as a character but instead just the way that he presents himself. First the book is written in his perspective so we get a weird twisted view of the story. I think this was stylistically a really good choice. He adds commentary that we don't get if he wasn't the one writing the story. He talks as if he is writing to us and that he know someone will be reading this story. "please, reader: no matter your exasperation with the tenderhearted, morbidly sensitive." (Nabokov 129). He writes as if he knows that someone will be reading his pieces which makes it just that much creepier. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the majority of sex offenders that hanker for some throbbing, sweet-moaning, physical but not necessarily coital, relation with a girl-child." (Nabokov 88). He always addresses what he is doing as not as bad as it could be, like he has good intentions but as we know as much as he tries to convince us otherwise we still know that what he does is plain out creepy. I think that Nabokov's idea to have Humbert be talking to us as if he knows he has an audience is a really effective one. This adds to the creepiness but also makes us relate more to him because he is speaking directly to us and trying to justify what he is doing.

Next another thing that I realized was his use of imagery and descriptions. Some of the images are so clear and distinct that it is extremely creepy. There are parts where Humbert describes settings and images like they are right in front of him. He states that he "could of course visualize Lolita with hallucinational lucidity" (Nabokov 107) basically him stating that he can clearly see her when she is not there in a way of recalling this memory of something that isn't there. Now that sounds normal to be able to picture someone when you aren't with them but in this case that is not what is being stated. This is a case where basically you make up things that happen, you are hallucinating and will make up things in this process. Now knowing this, this makes us question what is real or what is just being told to us by him. There are just so many times where he seems to recall these experiences in great detail that should be seen to us as very non monumental moments. "She was all rose and honey, dressed in her brightest gingham, with a pattern of little red apples, and her arms and legs were of a deep golden brown" (Nabokov 111). These are just such small details that seem to be imprinted into this mans memory. He remembers her facial structure, what she wears, the way her hair falls, and much more that should be things that someone does not pick up on. The use of these descriptions adds to the overall creepy affect of the book, it paints these images that we don't want to see but have to, to understand what is happening.

Overall the use of narration and descriptions really played a huge role in this section of the book. I am very excited to continue to read to see how these stylistic techniques play out in further sections. As I continue to read, the hype did not fall short. I really like this book even though it is insanely twisted it is very interesting. I can not wait to read more!