Long Term Persistent Pattern of Behavior Resulting in Jealousy
43 usually a pedophile lives alone, limited dating relationships if not married, age
and gender preference, and refers to children as “clean”, “pure”, “innocent”,
“impish”, and if they are married or have a special relationship, a pedophile will marry someone who does not have high sexual expectations or need. Humbert had
those characteristics because he lived alone, he gained limited dating, and in his opinion children are fragile, clean, innocent, and impish.
Humbert primarily saw Lolita as an object of pleasure because Lolita as a child could give Humbert a sexual gratification with the intoxicating feeling of
being powerful and in total control, which Humbert always wanted more. Humbert’s fear to lose Lolita led him to be possessive.
Humbert’s possessiveness can be seen when he and Lolita were in Beardsley town. In Beardsley, Humbert decided to take an apartment near
Lolita’s new girl-school. He had chosen that apartment in order to be sure with whom
Lolita went and came back from school, and he had chosen a girl-school because of his insecure feeling that Lolita might run away. He also had a list of names of
Lolita’s school friend and neighbors, which means that Lolita must be on his control. This quality can be seen through the following conversation.
This girl was in my group. Good. I have a complete student list with me. Her name please.
She was not in my school. She is only a town girl in Beardsley. Good. I have the Beardsley directory with me too. We’ll look up all the
Browns Nabokov, 2008: 225. This shows that Humbert’s possessiveness led him to see Lolita as an object of
pleasure and feel afraid in losing her. All people near Lolita seemed to be
44 obstacles. It shows that Humbert did not consider Lolita as a person with rights,
needs, boundaries, or desires of her own, but only as a sexual object. Humbert’s limited dating relationship can be seen after Annabel’s death.
Humbert did not have any close relationship with a woman. Humbert told that his relationship with women was practical, ironical, and brisk. While being a college
student, paid women were enough for him. Underage girls caught Humbert’s interest, not only physically because of the shape of the body and the beauty of
underage girls, but also because of their characters which was childish and unadorned.