Lo-Lee-ta

I spent two weeks read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and watch the movie adaptation by Stanley Kubrick. The novel is a really hard read, as there so many culture references I need to check to make sure, and even after reading it I can only said that I understand about 50% of the book. I am a big fan of Kubrick’s work, but this time I feel the movie and the novel are two completely different stories. The novel is a dark-tragicomedy, but the film feels like a comedy with some controversial ideas. Perhaps we can only truly feel the emotion and pain of Humbert Humbert’s love by reading into every single detail that he had described of her, and the movie simply doesn’t have the power to touch us in the same way. I quote from the book:

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta”

How can any visual images be as specific and powerful this passage? I love the “Lo.Lee.Ta.” part, as it bring some delegacy to the name, and makes it feel like a secret and need to be separated into parts so no one can ever find it. Humbert Humbert looks at Lolita as more of an art work than another human being, and throughout the novel Humbert plays the part of a prisoner to the obsession Loita. All the things that he did are due to his selfishness, but perhaps he is truly powerless to stop his obsession.

“thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita”

Even in the end of the story after losing Lolita, Humbert still hold true to his love and obsession. Humbert still loves her even she is now a little adult with child of her own, which means the obsession of Humbert is not because he like nymphet. In the end he changed from obsession to caring and loving her, as he knows she can never be his again. He once more describes her as a piece of art that’s legionary and their story is going to be remembered by everyone.

 If we change the character of Lolita to an older female then the whole perspective of the story will be totally different. Is the fact that she is underage that makes this whole story so morally wrong and somewhat disgusting to some? Or the ways that Humbert used to control her and have sex with her? I agree that Humbert did some really wrong things like marrying her mother, or trying to drug her but part of me believe that in the end he will still do the right thing for her. We can see that when he gave her the money in the end, as in that point he just want to hurt/kill the person who did hurt her. Humbert also stated that he is only crime to this whole thing is destroying Lolita’s childhood, and this sounds like something a true father will say. What if in the end Humbert didn’t kill Quilty (which I think is worst than Humbert), and somehow Lolita and Humbert got together again and live as two adults…will that be a happy ending to the story? I think while people question about Humbert’s crime, we should also question about our cultures moral believe. I am not saying what Humbert did is right or wrong, I am just saying that all those problems can be solved if she is a little older than she was.