Lolita: Writing for Atonement

I took a slightly different approach when I read this piece and looked at the novel as an actual written account from Humbert Humbert (H.H.) since he is a literary scholar. I viewed Lolita as being a piece written by Humbert instead of Nabokov, and that he wrote it to atone for his "evil." There also seems to be this sort of logic to his repentance, kind of like the 12-step programs but with less steps.

Humbert creates this work embedded with morality without actually enforcing any morals. But the question is, how does a monster with morals repent for the evils/sins that he has committed?  Humbert's attraction to the young girls is not a moral choice on his part because he did not act on his urges until Dolores. In the beginning his interest in girls wasn't physical, not that he didn't have physical desires, but rather that he was not yet ruled by them. By the time he meets Lolita the "superhuman self-control" he prides himself on has vanished and he now cannot stop. There are these flashes of clarity for H.H. in the novel that you can almost miss, but reveal in his musings that he understands that Lolita is suffering and that it devastates him. He feels like he has stole her life from her, and that he needs to write his accounts of his time with Lolita to restore her to that life he took. In this sense he is admitting that he has a "problems," or rather he has recognized/realized what he has done. Yet, like I said, he still cannot stop (or help) himself.

It isn't actually until the very end, when he finally losses Lolita that he feels a sense of remorse for what he has done; it's not an apology by any means because he never says, "I'm sorry" to her. I'm pretty glad that he never plain old says he's sorry because simple apologies like that don't hold any power anymore and almost always don't seem genuine. Humbert is very open throughout the novel about what he does and how it makes him feel, especially right after his time with Lolita and "an ashen sense of awfulness" creeps over him. Yet I find it odd that in the beginning he doesn't try to excuse his behavior, but rather tries to justify or dismiss it.


H.H. eventually seems to be "reformed," although it's important for me to note that there isn't a way that he can be cured based on the reading. Anyway, he has finally given up his "evil ways," and even goes as far as to mention his relationship with Rita (who was twice Lolita's age by-the-way). Something he would not have done were he still so fixated on young girls.

It wasn't until years later when Humbert had resisted his desire for young girls that Lolita actually contacted him and he was able to start repairing some of the damage he had done to her. He tracked her down and gave her $4,000. While offering her money is no way to repair the damage, it's a step in the right direction for H.H.

The final step in this mini 12-Step program to atonement is a public confession, which I viewed as being the whole reason for Humbert to even write the book. The book is his public confession, and it is finally through this form of art that he is able to finally repent to Lolita by doing something that saying "I'm sorry" or even offering her money cannot do.