Innocence: A Question
If you look at the color wheel, you would notice two “colors” decidedly missing from it: black and white. It has long been debated whether either should actually be considered a color, since white is more of a light reflection than an actual color, and black is the absence of light and color. The grayness (pun intended) of this issue is one that is reflected (I’m on a pun spree tonight!) in the concept of innocence. Most of the dictionary definitions of “innocence” use some variation of “an absence of guilt”. In this way, innocence isn’t really an entity so much as it is a non-entity—the existence of non-existence surrounding guilt. Innocence is a deliriously abstract concept and one that plays a huge role in Vladmir Nabokov’s Lolita.
Innocence is always used in conjunction with guilt. One cannot live without the other and both must be engaged to make proper judgments as to the rights and wrongs of human nature. However, when used to describe children, innocence somehow becomes a staple of all individuals below a certain age. However, the “innocent child” is not an accurate term to describe any child, for no person is ever without guilt, even if they are not guilty of anything in particular. From the moment we gain self-awareness and functioning consciousness (which according to psychologists is around age 2), we immediately become aware of the “do’s” and “do not’s”. Regardless of parentage, we are all born into a world of rules—which is always accompanied by guilt.
This brings us to Humbert and Lolita. What is it about their relationship that is automatically taboo to most readers? As Humbert points out, in earlier eras, girls as young as 8 were delivered to kings and noblemen for marriage. The issue, I think, lies not in her age or even in her physical maturity (or lack thereof), but in her psychological development. Thanks to modern technology, we now know that the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for rational decision-making, is not fully developed until the mid-20s. As such, children and adolescents are far more likely to make decisions based on the influences of their environment rather than their individual desires.
It is hard to get inside Lola’s head because the book is told from Humbart’s perspective. I actually found myself far more curious to know how Humbert looked through her eyes than Humbert’s own discourse on self-image. Children experiencing sexual curiosities and desires are nothing new (we all had that awkward first kiss in Kindergarten), but Lolita’s willingness to be openly sexual with Humbert raises a new question as to how her mind is working throughout the novel. Do you believe she is fully capable of consciously controlling her actions? Or does Humbert plant the seeds of her blooming sexuality? How much does her environment (uncaring mother, exploration at summer camp, etc.) influence her behavior? And what does this say about the innocence of children? I cannot say that I have the answers to these questions, but I believe they are very important to ask.
Tags: innocence, Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov
March 19th, 2013 at 10:33 am
I’m also interested in how Humbert shapes Lolita in his mind. While on one hand he hails her as the sole answer to his monumental desire, he also admits to building her in his own image: “Thus I had delicately constructed my ignoble, ardent, sinful dream…What I had madly possessed was not she, but my own creation, another, fanciful Lolita–perhaps, more real than Lolita; overlapping, encasing her; floating between me and her, and having no will, no consciousness–indeed, no life of her own” (62). Also, a few pages later he admits, “I knew I had fallen in love with Lolita forever; but I also knew she would not be forever Lolita” (65). These passages are horrifying because they reveal how completely disillusioned he is by his false conception of her. And he later uses his projection of Lolita onto Dolores to justify his exploitation of the latter.