Lolita

Humbert wishes to go to New England and finds Ramsdale, where a cousin of one of his uncle’s employees, Mr. McCoo, is looking to rent his attic. McCoo has a twelve-year-old daughter about whom Humbert fantasizes, and Humbert travels there only to find that the McCoos’ house has burned down. He is upset by the inconvenience, but Mr. McCoo suggests a house at 342 Lawn Street; a widow, Mrs. Haze, is looking for a lodger. Humbert is too polite to refuse a tour so he visits the house where he is unimpressed by both the house and Mrs. Charlotte Haze. He describes her as a woman who is conventionally dull and unimaginative; she might participate in a book club or in artistic events, but she offers no insight beyond the rules of the club. The house is equally dull, full of middlebrow artwork he dislikes. Worse, he is convinced she will try to make him her lover and he will end up in the sort of “tedious” affair he already “knew so well” (37). His opinion of the house changes when he meets Dolores, Mrs. Haze’s daughter, whom she calls “Lo.” Looking at him over her sunglasses, the twelve-year-old Dolores, whom he calls Lolita, immediately reminds Humbert of Annabel. He stresses to the reader that the story of Lolita begins merely as a consequence of his tragic past. He chooses to stay at the Haze house. 

Humbert offers “exhibit number two” (40): entries from a diary Humbert kept in 1947 and reconstructs from his “photographic memory” in prison. Most of the entries concern his initial thoughts about and interactions with Lolita in which he tries to draw her closer to him. He recounts her nymphet qualities and describes himself as possessing the characteristics little girls typically find appealing. He is delighted to find out that he looks like a famous singer or actor Lolita has a crush on, so much so that Charlotte has cause to tease Lolita about it. He grows to hate Charlotte and fantasizes about killing her. Humbert admits to rummaging through Lolita’s things, including a list of her classmates, which he memorizes. Though he knows it is dangerous to keep a diary of his feelings, he cannot help himself. He is especially excited when Lolita uses her hands to cover his eyes while he is reading outside one day. Charlotte tells him to slap her away if she is disrupting his scholarly pursuits. 

The diary entries have concluded. Humbert describes a plan that had developed for him, Charlotte, and Lolita to picnic at Hourglass Lake. However, the picnic is postponed several weeks; Humbert blames Charlotte and surmises that she is blocking the plans to thwart the growing attachment between Lolita and Humbert. When the picnic is scheduled again, Humbert is sad to learn that one of Lolita’s friends will be joining them. Humbert also learns how his room came to be free: Mrs. Phalen, the previous boarder, broke her hip in Savannah, Georgia the very day he arrived in Ramsdale. He thanks fate for interfering in his life and leading him to Lolita. 

On the Sunday of the picnic, the trip is cancelled because Lolita’s classmate has a fever. Upset, Lolita refuses to go to church with her mother, and Humbert is excited to be home alone with her. Humbert repaints the scene for the reader to show his innocence. In third person, he describes watching Lolita eat an apple before he takes it from her in a flirtatious way. She sits on his lap and sings a popular song while he rubs himself against her to climax. Lolita jumps off, having “noticed nothing.” He tries to recount the lyrics to the song which is apparently about a man who kills his lover. 

Humbert says he is proud he was able to pleasure himself without harming Lolita and thinks he has possessed not the real Lolita but his own creation. He goes to lunch in town and dreams of repeating the experience while wrestling with his desire to protect her chastity. Back at home, Charlotte tells him that Lolita is going to summer camp for the next two months. He fakes a toothache to hide his displeasure and asks if she is sure Lolita will be happy at camp. Charlotte suggests he visit their neighbor, Dr. Ivor Quilty, who is a dentist and the uncle of a playwright. She asks Humbert to join her on the “piazza” unless he wants to go to bed early and nurse his tooth. He opts for bed. 

Lolita does not want to go to camp, but Charlotte tells Lolita that Humbert agrees she should go to camp, leading Lolita to call him a “doublecrosser.” Charlotte says that she and Lolita have had many disagreements because Lolita sees herself as a “starlet,” while Charlotte views her as a “homely kid.” Humbert wonders if he should leave the house until Lolita returns and laments that he will miss these precious months of her young life. He knows he has fallen in love with her, but he also knows that nymphets exist only for a short while, and he worries she might come back from camp as something other than a nymphet. Humbert is excited when she rushes back into the house to kiss him.