One way to explore the different themes of literature is to understand the different forms of media that was popular at the time of publication and the time that it was written. For this section I will be exploring the different types of media that was popular around the time that Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov was published.
Audio Media: Popular Songs
The first song that I will be talking about is “Be My Love”. The lyrics are by Sammy Cahn and the music is by Nicholas Brodszky. The song was published in 1950 and was written for Mario Lanza. This song instantly reminded me of Humpert’s “love” for Dolores. The lyrics read:
“Be my love, for no one else can end this yearning
This need that you and you alone create
Just fill my arms the way you've filled my dreams
The dreams that you inspire with ev'ry sweet desire”
For me this directly describes the feelings of Humpert. In the book, a lot of the times when Humpert is talking about Lolita or describing the way he feels about her, he is describing a since of yearning for her. He wants her but he can never have her. I think this set of lyrics also relates to how Humpert tries to romanticize his feelings towards a twelve-year-old girl. When the lyrics say, “This need that you and you alone create”, its almost as if they blame the girl, like Humpert does with the “nymphets”.
“Be my love, for no one else can end this yearning
This need that you and you alone create
Just fill my arms the way you've filled my dreams
The dreams that you inspire with ev'ry sweet desire”
For me this directly describes the feelings of Humpert. In the book, a lot of the times when Humpert is talking about Lolita or describing the way he feels about her, he is describing a since of yearning for her. He wants her but he can never have her. I think this set of lyrics also relates to how Humpert tries to romanticize his feelings towards a twelve-year-old girl. When the lyrics say, “This need that you and you alone create”, its almost as if they blame the girl, like Humpert does with the “nymphets”.
The next song is “Mona Lisa”. This song was written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston and sung by Nat King Cole. This song was published in 1950. I related this song with how Humpert might see Lolita and how he might not even be seeing the real Lolita. Ray Evans and Jay Livingston write,
“Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa
Or is this your way to hide a broken heart”
In these lines, I can see Humpert saying that Lolita is tempting him or that all the “nymphets” are tempting him. Humpert might be confused on whether or not Lolita is smiling at him because she shares the same feelings towards him, or she if she is just smiling for different reasons entirely.
In the next lines:
“Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa
Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art”
I related this to the fact that Humpert never really see the real Lolita and he might be questioning that. Humpert only sees Lolita as a piece of art for him to own and look at, but he never sees her as a human child.
“Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa
Or is this your way to hide a broken heart”
In these lines, I can see Humpert saying that Lolita is tempting him or that all the “nymphets” are tempting him. Humpert might be confused on whether or not Lolita is smiling at him because she shares the same feelings towards him, or she if she is just smiling for different reasons entirely.
In the next lines:
“Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa
Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art”
I related this to the fact that Humpert never really see the real Lolita and he might be questioning that. Humpert only sees Lolita as a piece of art for him to own and look at, but he never sees her as a human child.
The final song that I will be talking about is “Let Me Go, Lover!”. It was written by Jenny Lou Carson and Al Hill and sung by Joan Weber. It was released in 1955. This song really hit me hard when I listen to it. I immediately thought of Lolita. The lyrics state:
“Please turn me loose
What's the use?
Let me go, lover”
“You made me weep
Cut me deep
I can't sleep, lover”
In these lyrics, I feel like can see Lolita. The girl in this song is trying to get away from her lover, just like I assume Lolita will be like once Humpert takes her away. In the song, the woman is pleading with her lover to let her leave what can be assumed as an abusive relationship. I think this relates very well with Lolita, because the relationship is not something that she will want, it is going to be forced upon her.
“Please turn me loose
What's the use?
Let me go, lover”
“You made me weep
Cut me deep
I can't sleep, lover”
In these lyrics, I feel like can see Lolita. The girl in this song is trying to get away from her lover, just like I assume Lolita will be like once Humpert takes her away. In the song, the woman is pleading with her lover to let her leave what can be assumed as an abusive relationship. I think this relates very well with Lolita, because the relationship is not something that she will want, it is going to be forced upon her.
Visual Media
The first type of visual media that we will be taking a look at is an ad for coffee from 1952. I think when Nabokov wrote the character Humbert, he was trying to bring to light the treatment of women during that time. That thought could also be wishful thinking. In the 50's, there were many ads that normalized domestic abuse. In this ad we can see a man rearing back to hit a women. The ad says, "If he discovers you're still taking chances on getting flat, stale coffee... woe be unto you!" Basically saying that the wives are going to get abused if the coffee that they buy is bad. In Lolita, Humbert Humbert states on many occupations that he does not like women, only little girls. This is obvious when we think about Humbert's first wife, Valeria, who he continuously beat and said that he probably would have killed her if she had not escaped with another man. Humbert also continuously sexually abuses Dolores because he can. I can see Humbert representing the societal views of the time. That women are here for men to do whatever they want with them, such as abusing them.
This next ad is for ties by Van Heusen. The ad says, "For men only!... brand new man-talking, power-packed patterns that tell her it's a man's world... and make her so happy it is." The image shows a women serving a man food. To me, this reminded me of Humbert and Lolita. Humbert is the man showing the women (in this case it is a child, Lolita) how great a "man's world" is. It is like Humbert is trying to make himself believe that Lolita loves being sexually abused by him and that she loves this "man's world".
The last ad is for men's pants. The ad states, "though she was a tiger lady, our hero didn't have to fire a shot to floor her. After one look at Mr. Leggs slacks, she was ready to have him walk all over her." This ad reminds me of how Humbert thinks that he is extremely attractive. Humbert assumes that every female cannot resist him, even Lolita. Like the ad says, all women that see Humbert all fall for him and are ready to have him walk all over them. Maybe Nabokov made Humbert so self absorbed to represent the men at these times. The men thinking that all women want men to walk all over them. I feel like men thought that the only thing that women want is a man, which, of course, is entirely not true. Humbert might be thinking that all Lolita wants is him.
News Media
Just like Humbert Humbert and his journey with Lolita, there was a sexual predator that kidnapped a 13-year-old girl in 1948. This situation was also briefly mentioned in the book. Humbert says, "Had I done to Dolly, perhaps, what Frank Lasalle , a fifty-year-old mechanic, had done to eleven-year-old Sally Horner in 1948?" I think that by doing this Nabokov was trying to show people that these kinds of monsters do not just appear in fictional books. Children are kidnapped and sexually harassed a huge amount of times a year. When Nabokov was writing Lolita he was trying to see if a monster such as Humbert could be forgiven. By adding in the little detail about a real life pedophile, he is maybe trying to ask if forgiving Humbert is possible, then why not forgive these hundreds of thousands of sex offenders that are currently in America. No matter how beautifully thing such as Humbert Humbert may appear the horribly ugly real truth is that these children are being ripped away from their families and their childhoods, just like Dolores.
These next two magazine articles probably shocked me the most. Although I know that the 50s was a time where sexism was unbearably common, I think seeing these just made me realize the degree of sexism. This article says, "You see one you like, you can just cart here off. She's yours just as if she were a bunny you'd trapped and taken to your hustings. Does this omnipotence make you rash? No, indeed. You find to your surprise you have become eminently more selective. Since you can HAVE any one you want, you don't take just ANY one" This article is promoting the act of snatching women up and taking them for yourself, as if they were objects. This reminds me of how Humbert just took Dolores away from her home. Humbert wanted her and she was there, so he took her away and did what he wanted with her. If articles like this exist and they promote the possession of women, then men like Humbert Humbert (pedophiles) think that it is fine from them to take little girls and rape them, because "She's yours just as if she were a bunny you'd trapped"
This article just creep me out. It is about photographers who get to take pictures of women. The line that stuck out most to me in this article was "Its a lot like getting paid to sample fine wine" This referencing that the photographers get paid to stare at women's bodies. This article also promotes the dehumanization of women, that women are just objects to be had or things to be looked at. This reminds me of how a lot of the times Humbert does not really like Dolores as a human being, but more as Lolita, a body to look at when he wants to. He never liked Dolores and found her annoying, but when he got to look at her as a nymphet, he "loved" her. Women in this time, as I have mentioned before, are seen as objects and these types of articles promote that. Men see these and think that it is okay for them to treat women as objects and take whatever they want from them. Men are to think that all women are good for is to be looked at and they don't have opinions or thoughts of there own. These kinds of articles infuriate me immensely. Not only are women being treated horribly , but also they promote sexism as a good thing.