Lolita

" To an unsmiling blond bitch of a secretary I gave my daughter's age as "practically sixteen." 
  

After reading Lolita, I can see how Lolita has become such a popular, but controversial novel. The essence of Lolita is based around the ideal "nymphet"; the cherub-like child on the brinks of womanhood. His drive to find these perfectly aged nymphets girls stemmed from the relationship he had with Annabel as a child. Feeling unaccomplished, he continues to seek out for girls around the age of 12. To Humbert Humbert, the little Lolita is the epitome of nymphets. His fetish for young girls is constantly brought up throughout the story, and he is keen to remind the reader of what he sees as Lolita's age and the ages of other nymphets that strike his fancy. The age of a girl is very important to him and he wants to tell the readers of that every chance he gets.

So when I was reading through Lolita, and I got to this remark by Humbert to the nurse, it really struck a chord. Up until this point, in Humbert's mind, Lolita was perpetually a young child around 12-13 years old. Even though she was far from innocence and the subject to his sexual endeavors (and to of a boy's in summer camp) she remained a nymphet in his eyes. His obsession for Lolita was so great that it began to distort his perception of her age. Although he clearly knew she was naturally getting older and would describe her features as she aged- she was always his "child" or "darling."  He was attracted to her youthful childness afterall, so as long as he kept that alive in his mind- his attraction and obsession with Lolita continued. 

He also tries his best to prevent her from growing up- another effect based on his idealized version of Lolita. Humbert prevents her from being with boys and keeps a close eye on all of her friends. Even though he knows that Lolita has had experiences at the camp in the past, he takes great strides to prevent Lolita from reaching adulthood in society. When Lolita attended school and wanted to participate in the play, he made of point of only allowing her to join if there were no male actors.

I noticed that the few times Humbert were bring Lolita's true age to his own attention was if Lolita was acting rebellious towards Humbert or if Humbert was in an awful mood. The scene in the hospital is one of the best examples of his emotional state where Humbert has to admit to the nurse that Lolita is "practically sixteen" in a harsh and violent demeanor. Earlier in the story, he would keep pretending Lolita was still young around 12 years old.

The young age of the girls he pursued was an extremely important factor in Humbert's obsession and is most likely one of the reasons why Lolita is such an uncomfortable book to read. It's one thing to read about a character's obsession and passion for another, but the target of his deeds is a young girl. It was definitely a very interesting and well thought-out book, but I would probably not read it again in my spare time.