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Growing up and getting education in a materialistic society, Lolita has indulgent and indecent features in her character. Her characters and pursuit of material enjoyment make her seductive to male adult which contribute to the kidnaps of Humbert and Quilty.
3.2 Indulgence in Sexual Desire
Humbert begins his story from his birth in Paris and his childhood on the Riviera. His mother dies suddenly, and he is raised by his father who is rather busy and his aunt who is very kind and strict. His father runs a luxurious Hotel, and Humbert lives a healthy, happy childhood, as he states “From the aproned pot-scrubber to the flanneled potentate, everybody liked me, everybody petted me” (Nabokov, 2000: 3). In the summer of 1923, Humbert encounters twelve-year-old Annabel Leigh, and he soon falls in love with her, but, unfortunately, four months later she dies of typhus. Annabel’s death is a miserable memory for him, and even became “a permanent obstacle for any further romance” (Nabokov, 2000: 8). Many adult women in this novel are obviously attracted by Humbert, but he sees them only as obstacles. He is only obsessed with young girls between the age of nine and fourteen, the nymphet. As he defines, the nymphets don’t need to be very beautiful, but to possess an elusive, sexually appealing quality. Humbert invents name for the kind of young girls he likes but he cannot deny that his desire is abnormal.
Humbert once has an unsuccessful marriage and suffers from a mental breakdown. After rescuing from a sanitarium, he rents a house from the widowed Mrs. Haze. He finds the house terribly unappealing until he sees Mrs. Haze’s 12-year-old daughter, Dolores Haze. Humbert finds her resemblance to Annabel and immediately remembers his time with Annabel 25 years ago. “It was the same child the same frail, honey-hued shoulders, the same silky supple bare back, the same chestnut head of hair. A polka-dotted black kerchief tied around her chest hid from my aging ape eyes, but not from the gaze of young memory, the juvenile breasts I had fondled one immortal day” (Nabokov, 2000: 41). Humbert is attracted by Lolita’s young and beautiful appearance which looks similar to Annabel. So he decides to stay to keep near with her.