Is it normal to sympathize with humbert humbert from "lolita"?

64% Normal
14 Comments

Ever since watching the movie Lolita, I've felt really bad for Humbert Humbert. He loved Lolita so much, but she treated him so badly, and it's depressing and sick how she could do such a thing. Most people think Humbert is a pedo, but I feel that he's a lovely person who got his heart broken by a very mean girl. Is it normal to have this point of view?

Voting Results
64% Normal
Based on 74 votes (47 yes)
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Comments ( 14 )
  • Jfdp
    10 years ago

    its the way that author wrote it- pure brilliance, if people are still talking about your novel 50 years later you know you've done something right

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  • anti-hero
    11 years ago

    I am ashamed that I am in the same species as you.

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  • Cheese123
    9 years ago

    given the romantic wording Humbert Humbert tells his story with, it is understandable that many people view this tale as a romance rather than a tale of chronic abuse.

    let's look at the concrete facts: HH is 38, while Dolores is 12; HH considers seriously murdering Dolores' mother; HH has a deeply ingrained attraction to children between 9-14; he has sex with a child for years, and has a past history of seeking out child prostitutes; he blackmails Dolores into staying with him as a sex slave for years by telling her she'll get sent to a nasty orphanage if she leaves him.

    the question is 'does this sound like a good man to you?'.
    the answer, I think, is no. Children in the earliest stages of pubescent development don't have fully developed brains, literally. For instance, the part of the brain that regulates emotion (prefrontal cortex) is one such part the brain.

    this and other biological considerations lead the law in most places to prohibit sex with minors. So ultimately Lolita is the story of a pedophile who manipulates a youngster into having sex with him. And we call that pedophilia, and rape (and incest, as he's her stepfather).

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    • pandora69
      8 years ago

      I don't really think he blackmailed her into being a sex slave. It seemed like a very mutual attraction, let's not forget she kissed him first. The fact that she ends up, willingly, with another man of his age seems to further show she is interested in mature men.

      Just my take, I didn't find him to be a bad person.

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      • Cheese123
        8 years ago

        Another thing is he did actually blackmail her. It's in black and white. After he rapes her he tells her the day after on a drive that if she ran away or tried to tell people what was happening she would go to a nasty orphanage where she'd have a bad life. Do you dispute that this is emotional blackmail?

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      • Guy_No1
        2 years ago

        Do you like older men too.

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      • Cheese123
        8 years ago

        Remember the entire story is from HH's point of view, and narrators can often be unreliable. Perceptions conveyed to us by H.H. may be distorted, especially about Dolores. Evidence of this is most obvious where at the end he laments he doesn't know anything about Dolores after all. You may be asking 'what about the parts of the book where she had a crush on him?'.

        Kids develop crushes on adults all the time. That doesn't mean it's ok for adults to act on it because of the power and intellectual and physical differences being too far apart. For an example of the intellectual differences, H.H. tries to tutor Dolores in the classical Western canon like the Illiad and Odyssey. He complains often about her disdain and unwillingness to learn these things. Why? This is emblematic of the fact H.H. Is intellectually more more capable and developed than Dolores is. And he uses that over her to manipulate her into staying with him.

        Sure she ran off with Quilty for a while, but that was because anything seemed better than H.H. Of course, in the end, she found that Quilty was worse and fled him too.

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  • Schindlerww
    9 years ago

    I've been that 'Lolita' (not the same situation, but the same idea). It's not nice.

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    • daydreamer394
      8 years ago

      Really?

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      • Schindlerww
        8 years ago

        Yes. My best friend's father hit on me and told me he has been turned on by me since I was 10-11. I can't say I was a Lolita, but I was close to it, I guess. And I have daddy issues, so life is great

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  • shade_ilmaendu
    11 years ago

    Um.... what??? Please mods don't approve this, some stupid troll looking to get a rise out of people.

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    • shade_ilmaendu
      11 years ago

      I see this is where all the pedos hang out.

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      • Pepperoni_Sticks
        10 years ago

        Actually I'm a teenage girl.

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  • coolio75650932
    11 years ago

    LOL! lolita:a young child or teen who has a sexual nature.

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