As the mother of girls, this creeps me out.
Posted on 11/18/2011 6:46:48 AM PST by Borges
Of course the writer is correct and I thought the same thing when I read that book.
I do remember one scene near the end when the main character is looking down at some small-town scene from a hilltop (or something like that) and he can hear laughter of children in the distance and he thinks to himself that he stole Lolita’s childhood.
Excellent article.
I’ve never seen that perfume ad, but I wonder how it is any different than thousands of messages sent every day ‘sexploiting’ little girls.
The whole “Toddlers and Tiara’s” genre is way beyond creepy.
I thought Lolita was a truly nauseating and creepy book. I also had to read it in high school (I remember that same cover with the saddle shoes) and it completely appalled me that our teacher was gushing over it. In fact, it rather made me wonder about the teacher...
Child molesters always say it was the fault of the child, the child “made them do it,” etc. While Nabokov may have meant this to show the complete unreality and depravity of the self-justifying Humbert Humbert, it’s undeniable that many people got exactly the opposite message out of it and that it served to create that image of a sexualized child that now seems to be so dear to the hearts of everybody, ranging from advertisers to Penn State coaches.
Do you think ‘Crime and Punishment’ glorified murderers?
That show comes from the deepest pits of Hell.
I read it when I was nineteen, and it was pretty clear that it was molestation and rape to me.
As the mother of girls, this creeps me out.
I was unaware of that show until now. Ugh..
Thanks netmilsmom!
(Where’s the brain-bleach?)
REALLY!!!
One correction to the article. The term “pedophile” should be applied to those who sexually abuse prepubescent children. While what Humbert Humbert does is bad (based on descriptions I have read, I’m not ever going to read the book), Lolita is presumably past puberty and at least somewhat able to cope with and recover from what happens to her.
A pedophile who assaults a prepubescent child, however, is orders of magnitude worse. The psychological damage to the child is much worse and longer lasting. It could also lead to the victim themselves becoming a future pedophile, if I’m not mistaken. Which means that one act or series of acts of brutality have consequences that, unchecked could last generations.
The younger a person is when abused, the greater the damage. The distinction is important.
The book doesn’t describe any sex acts. It’s all implied.
In other words, it wasn't "rape" rape, eh Whoopie?
“Crime and Punishment” was perhaps the first of the novels that attempted to get “inside the head” of a criminal or madman, and I’m sure was a big influence on Dostoyevsky’s fellow-Russian, Nabokov. I think Dostoyevsky’s moral compass was a little more certain than Nabokov’s, however, and this does come through. Raskolnikov is “converted” by Sonya, does confess and goes to prison.
Humbert Humbert, on the other hand, does not; the most he acknowledges is that his actions with Lolita have been cruel, but he goes on with his self-justifying ways, tracks down and kills the man who “stole” Lolita from him, and never suffers any consequences.
It’s so unresolved that I can see why it was easy for people to take it as a glowing description of a sexualized child rather than a revolting peek into the mind of a child molester.
Doesn’t suffer consequences? He goes to prison (and dies there).
Lolita was prepubescent when Humpbert began raping her. Girls started puberty much later a half century ago. He was done with her as she finished puberty at 15.
She doesn’t look 12 (as described in the article) or 17 (her real age). She looks about 15 which is too young to be “seductive”.
While a 15 year old is theoretically capable handling the pressures and responsibilities of sex, pregnancy, child raising, etc. (indeed almost everyone alive probably has multiple cases of teens giving birth in their family tree) the odds are against it. Particularly in our society, where teens are still protected against the outside world by being kept in their families and schools until 18 instead of taking up work at 12, 13, or 14 as was often the case in the past.
It is irresponsible to take such photos of anyone under 18 for use in an advertisement in this day and age.
My grandmother was married at 15, my grandfather was 21 at the time (this was in 1920). She and my grandfather remained married for 64 years, until he died in 1984. Those who would call this child abuse and would call my grandfather a rapist or pedophile would be wrong. My grandma was a very kind and loving person, completely normal acting to all those who knew her, and didn’t seem to have suffered any ill effects associated with abuse or rape.
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