The Nymphet Obsession

"...I seldom ever dreamed of Lolita as I remembered her - as I saw her constantly and obsessively in my conscious mind durng my daymares and insomnias. More precisely: she did haunt my sleep but she appeared there in strange and ludicrous disguises as Valerie or Charlotte, or a cross between them." -pg. 254

This passage illustrates H.H's constant projection of his "nymphet" obession onto those he meets in his life. Lolita had served to perfectly embody and personify Humbert's idea of this "nymphet" that he had lost in Anabelle as a young child. In many ways, Lolita full-filled everything that Humbert had always wished to find. Before he found Lolita, however, H.H attempted to project his "nymphet" ideas onto anyone who would do at the time, such as his first wife, Valerie, who he only liked because of her child-like qualities. Humbert also projected his obsession onto Charlotte, only because of what he was sure he could get from her - the real thing, that is, Lolita. I think that having Lolita appear to him in his dreams as both of these women serves to further highlight the idea that, in many ways, every other women or girl Humbert encountered was just another way for him to deal with his nymphet obssesion. Every other relationship was just a stepping stone until he could achieve what he had so longed for; finding a nymphet.

After Humbert loses Lolita, I think it is safe to say that this obsession in no way dies down. In contrary, it becomes even more passionate and fierce. He starts to only think of Lolita, the nymphet, he has lost. This shows that no matter what H.H did in his life, his obsession would always be there, whether he was projecting it on other women in any way he could, or whether it was by aquiring his own nymphet like Lolita. H.H is an obsessed man who cannot be cured, no matter what he does.


How is the idea that Humbert Humbert constantly dreams of Lolita, mixed with the other women in his life, sufficient in embodying his obsession with nymphets? Can the readers determine if there is an end to Humbert's destructive and alarming obsessed spiral?