The human mind can be easily swayed with a few simple words. In Vladimir Nabokov's novel, Lolita, a sadistic story morphs into a passionate one through the skill of the narrator. Humbert hides himself through his romanticization and reasoning of his sinister views. He uses attractive words and literary devices to glamorize a story about rape and murder. He also gains sympathy from the reader by justifying his actions, claiming they are not that evil. From clever descriptions to intelligent wit, he transforms into a simple man who is hopelessly in love. Humbert Humbert is an unreliable narrator who uses language as a powerful tool to delude the reader, which makes it difficult to see him as he truly is.
Humbert disguises his pedophilia with literary allusions which make the reader forget his actual nature. Writing his story in a prison cell, he opens with the quote, “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul” (Nabokov 1). This quote may show his love and adoration for Lolita; however in reality, Humbert is a thirty-seven-year-old man and Lolita is a twelve-year-old girl. Without the fictional foreword from Dr. John Ray, the reader might not even realize how much Humbert distorted the events of the book (Gleason). It is revealed that Humbert, in prison for…show more content… Trapped alone in a prison cell with only his skills in writing, he manages to deceive the reader into falling for his romanticism and ignoring the reality. He deludes, blames, and defends in order to convince the reader to forget his or her morals. He successfully alters the identity of the story so much that popular culture uses Lolita as a way to describe provocative, young girls instead of using the word to recognize the tale of a step-father’s life-ruining defilement of his daughter. Humbert demonstrates the power of language by unreliably narrating his life story and making the reader forget his true