Symbols as a Means of Delivering the Theme
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Symbols as a Means of Delivering the Theme in
Nabokov s Lolita
Rosemary Kesauly & Harris Hermansyah S.
Abstract
This paper discusses the symbols in Nabokov s Lolita. There are two
main points that this paper tries to answer: 1) What the symbols used
in the novel are, and 2) how the symbols help to deliver the theme of
the novel. Throughout the 20th century Lolita has been considered as a
controversial novel because it talks about the relationship between a
middle-aged man and a little girl. Many researchers have observed the
novel using the psychological approach or moral-philosophical
approach. This paper however only focuses on the work itself in order
to understand the novel more and also in order to find the internal
logic that binds the story. This paper hopes to bring a new perspective
in seeing Nabokov s work as an independent entity, by doing so
hopefully a new appreciation towards Nabokov s works can be
developed.
Keywords: Symbols, theme, setting
Introduction
Lolita is considered as Nabokov s masterpiece. Four American publishers
rejected the novel before Olympia Press finally published it in France in 1955. The
success of Lolita was monumental. Because of the novel, Nabokov is firmly
established as one of the twentieth century s master prose stylists. Lolita was made
into a motion picture in the 1970s with Stanley Kubrick as the director, and in 1997
Jeremy Iron directed the re-making of that movie. Nabokov s other famous novels
besides Lolita are Pale Fire  1962, and Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle  1969.
During his life Nabokov published eighteen novels, eight books of short stories,
seven books of poetry, and nine plays. Most of his works deal with controversial
issues such as incest, nymphomania, suicide, and the tyranny of a police state.
Lolita is chosen to be analyzed in this paper because it is filled with symbols
and figurative language. Reading it is like reading poetry in the form of a novel.
Even though the issue raised in the novel may seem vulgar and shocking for some
readers still Nabokov manages to  decorate the issue with his creativity to create
sentences, which contain deep symbolical meaning. That is the reason why the focus
of the analysis in this paper is on the significance of symbols in conveying the theme
of Nabokov s Lolita. Out of the many beautifully crafted intrinsic elements of the
novel; symbols are chosen in particular because symbols can have multiple
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interpretations as long as strong evidence supports them. Moreover, symbols are
essential in a literary work as they may be used to suggest ideas, attitudes, or values.
Review of Related Studies
Many studies that have been done on Nabokov s Lolita focus on the moral-
philosophical message of the novel, the influence of the mass American culture on
the novel, and the imaginative inventions found in the novel. In his essay Lolita:
from a moral perspective, August C. Bourre wrote that Nabokov has brought up the
issue of what is and what is not accepted by society. He argues that Humbert
Humbert s attraction to Dolores Haze and other nymphets is not a moral choice on
his part. It is an aesthetic choice. Humbert Humbert refers to nymphets as maidens.
By bringing fairy-tale language into play Humbert Humbert is distancing himself
form the reality of the fact that his attraction is socially unacceptable (http://
www.vestige.org/ nabokov/lolita/morality_aesthetics.html). While Lionel Trilling, in
his essay entitled The Last Lover: Vladimir Nabokov s Lolita, which is compiled in
the book Modern Critical Interpretations: Lolita, suggests that Lolita is not about
sex but about love. He develops his essay by discussing the types of love in modern
day culture. Trilling argues that Humbert Humbert s relation with Lolita
scandalously defies society; it puts the lovers beyond the pale of society (1987:5-
11). Another essay, written by Susan Amper, entitled Lolita and Her Movies: The
Unmaking of Humbert Humbert, argues that there is a link between Nabokov s
Lolita and America s infatuation with movies. By using a chronological study of
Humbert Humbert s fall into a movie land-illusion, mixed with references to
contemporary ideas about Hollywood and the theatre Amper argues that the power
of America s love for movies is similar to Humbert s obsessive actions (1995:41-
55).
This study agrees with Bourre that what Humbert Humbert has done is
socially unacceptable, however the focus of the study will not be on the moral
message of the novel, this study will try to formulate the theme of Lolita reflected
through the symbols and in doing so Bourre s essay will be used as a reference. This
study disagrees with Trillings argument, even though Lolita is not a novel about sex,
still it is too soon to judge that it is a novel about love, since love and obsessions are
two different things even though they can be quite similar in certain situations.
Amper s attempt to relate Lolita with the mass American culture is considered
acceptable even though this study will only focus on the symbols related to the
aspects within the story and not to the aspects outside the story.
Theory of Symbols
According to Holman and Harmon, symbol is an image that evokes an
objective, concrete reality and suggests another level of meaning. It is a trope that
combines a literal and sensuous quality with an abstract or suggestive aspect
(1968:44). While according to Guth, symbols are images that have a meaning
beyond themselves. Symbol is a detail, a character, or an incident that has a meaning
beyond its literal role in the narrative. In order to fully respond to a story, it is
necessary to become sensitive to symbolic overtones and implications (1997:189).
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Abrams defines symbol as a word or phrase that signifies an object or event, which
in turn signifies something, or a range of reference, beyond itself (1975: 195).
In his book, Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, Perrine states that a
symbol may have more than one meaning. He adds that at its most effective a
symbol is like many faceted jewels. It flashes different colours when it is turned in
the light. Furthermore, the area of the symbols possible meaning is always
controlled by the context (1974:20). Therefore, it can be said that the meaning of a
literary symbol must be established and supported by the entire context of the
literary work, which means that a particular symbol has its meaning within the story.
According to Rohrberger and Woods the presence of symbols in literary works is
inevitable. Some people think that many great works of art use literary symbols
because they suggest complexity, intricacy, and richness. If symbols are present in
literary works, whether through emphasis, repetition, implications, or recurring
patterns, it means that the author wants to say something in terms of another.
Therefore, such a hint should not be neglected in order to get the actual
understanding of the literary work itself (1971:17).
Related to the interpretation of symbols, Guth states that some symbols come
into a story from a shared language of symbols. He notes that much in human
experience has traditional symbolic associations. Dawn for example, is often
associated with hope, dark forest with evil, clay with death, water with fertility, and
light with knowledge or enlightenment. Symbols may be ambiguous; the Whale in
Moby Dick may represent everything that is destructive in nature, but it may also
represent everything that is most serenely beautiful in nature. Guth further adds that
literary symbols are rich in associations. They have more resonance, and more
reverberations than simple signs. Garden as a symbol may be associated with the
Garden of Eden, nature, or an oasis in the desert. Guth also notes that some symbols
have a special personal meaning for the writer; their meaning may come into focus
as they return again and again in the writer s work (1997: 189-190).
Symbols can be classified into several categories. According to Reaske, there
are two types of symbols: public symbol and private symbol. Public symbol is a
symbol that through repeated use has the same connotations whenever they occur.
While private symbols are products of a particular poet s imagination and are fairly
mysterious. If a poet has a private symbol, it often remains in private use until
someone decides that the symbol has some particular meanings, which become clear
when one has observed carefully how the symbol functions in every poem in which
it is observed (1974:109). Reaske s explanation is supported by Guth who states that
some poets develop a symbolic language of their own that may at first seem private
or obscure. However, it gradually becomes meaningful as the readers learn more
about the poet or read several poems by the same poet. As the readers learn the
poet s symbolic language, the readers gradually feel less like strangers in the poet s
world of meanings (1997:589). The theories above not only can be applied when
analyzing symbols in a poem but they can also be applied in analyzing symbols or
symbolical language in any other genre of literature such as short story, novel, or a
play, because symbols also exist on those other types of literary genres.
Apart from the three forms of symbol mentioned above, Guth in his book
Discovering Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, mentions what is called the central
symbol. Guth explains that a central symbol is a symbol that becomes the focal point
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of a story. A central symbol functions to focus the readers attention. It provides a
tangible object for the readers emotions. Another function of a central symbol is
that it becomes the hub for meanings and associations. A central symbol may slowly
evolve, acquiring its full meaning only as the story as a whole takes shape
(1997:192-193).
There are various ways of identifying symbols. Kennedy, in his book
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama suggests several ways of
identifying symbols. In his opinion, in order to look for symbols it is necessary to
focus on certain characters and actions because usually the author invents them
based on certain purposes. By holding up for inspection certain characters and their
actions, the author lends them some special significance in order to support the idea.
Kennedy further adds that the readers should be careful with words, phrases, or
sentences which are mentioned repeatedly, because they might suggest symbols
(1983:147). Rohrberger and Woods states that readers can usually trust the story for
the identification and discovery of symbols, because when an author wishes to mark
an object or detail with symbolic significance, then he will indicate, either explicitly
or implicitly, his intended meaning or meanings. Symbols are not things invented by
an author to confuse the reader, not strange objects with far-fetched meanings
arbitrarily attached to them, but they are, in literature as in life, a vital part of our
experience (1971:136). Guth also suggests several ways of identifying symbols.
According to Guth, in order to identify the role symbols play in a work of fiction
there are a few steps that must be taken: first, the full range of possible associations
of a symbol need to be explored. Second, it is necessary to trace the full meaning of
a gradually evolving central symbol. Third, it is important to look for secondary
symbols that echo the major theme of a story. Fourth, contrasts or polarities need to
be found. Fifth, relate key terms specifically to the story, if a term is brought into the
story from the outside, show how it applies to the story. For instance, if it is believed
that the Garcia Marquez story is simply a fantasy, then it is suggested to find out
what kind of fantasy is acted out in the story, and what are its workings or dynamics.
The last step is to look for personal connections between the use of symbols in a
story and our own life and experience (1997: 223-225).
Analysis
1. Symbols
Symbols that are chosen to be analyzed in this section are considered as
symbols because they are repeatedly mentioned in the story. Throughout the whole
story it can be seen that there are several significant symbols. These symbols are
reflected through the name of the main characters, the setting, and the characters
actions and behaviours. These symbols are taken into consideration since they
occurred repeatedly throughout the novel as suggested by Kennedy (1983: 47). By
making them appear in the novel throughout, the author must have a particular
purpose.
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a. Symbols Reflected through the Name of the Main Characters
i) Humbert Humbert
Humbert Humbert is the hero of the novel. Lolita or The Confession of a
White Widowed Male is a journal that records Humbert s mad obsession towards
Lolita. The repetition of the name Humbert Humbert stresses the fact that despite
what the title suggests, the novel is more about Humbert Humbert s life and what
goes on inside his mind. The repetition of the name symbolizes the double lives that
Humbert Humbert leads. To the world he is known as an educated man, a French
scholar, a professor of literature, a charming and respectable man. While actually
there is another Humbert, a character that lies deep within himself. This second
Humbert is a mad man who creates his own world of illusions where he nurtures his
idea of nymphets and nymphet land. Humbert Humbert, himself, is conscious of his
twofold nature,
No wonder, then, that my adult life during the European period of my
existence proved monstrously twofold. Overtly, I had so-called normal
relationships with a number of terrestrial women having pumpkins or
pears for breasts; inly, I was consumed by hell furnace of localized lust
for every passing nymphet whom as law-abiding poltroon I never dared
approach (1997:18).
The first Humbert is a healthy, smart, and sensible man who is capable of
controlling his actions and behaviour, while the second Humbert is a  sick man, a
man who suffers from insomnia and paranoia, a man whose every action is aiming at
fulfilling his hidden lust towards a girl child. The first Humbert leads a seemingly
simple and normal life while the second Humbert leads a more complex life, in
which he refers to himself as being  Humbert the Hoarse ,  Humbert the Popular
Butcher ,  Humbert the Ape ,  Humbert the Wounded Spider , and many other
nicknames he creates for himself. There is a dangerous  monster that lies within the
charming appearance of Humbert Humbert,
But instead I am lanky, big-boned, woolly-chested Humbert Humbert,
with thick black eyebrows and a queer accent, and a cesspoolful of
rotting monsters behind his slow boyish smile (1997:44).
ii) Dolores Haze
Dolores Haze is Lolita s full name. It is interesting to note that the name
Dolores comes from a Latin root  dolor . In Cassel s New Compact Latin Dictionary
the word  dolor is defined as pain, physical or mental, especially disappointment
and resentment. Another meaning of the word is cause of sorrow. While her last
name, Haze, according to Merriam Websters Collegiate Dictionary means
vagueness of mind or mental perception. Those definitions can be related to one of
the ways Humbert Humbert refers to Lolita, on page 53 he refers to her as  my
dolorous and hazy darling . Therefore, the name itself is symbolical. First, it reflects
the characteristics of Lolita as Humbert Humbert describes her: dolorous and hazy.
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Throughout the novel Lolita seems to be a cheerful and energetic child, however, in
certain parts of the novel it can be seen that she is not as cheerful as she tries to
show. She can be very moody and full of resentment as shown by her often-cynical
replies when she talks to Humbert Humbert or her mother. In a trip around the States
with Humbert Humbert it can be seen that Lolita often changes from being loud and
cheerful into being sullen and evasive (page 139-141). She has constant mood
swings, from happy, to sad, and to happy again. This is probably influenced by her
age (she is entering her teens) and by what Humbert Humbert has done to her. This
then leads to the second interpretation of what the name Dolores Haze symbolizes.
It can be interpreted that actually the name Dolores Haze symbolizes the
cloud of sadness that falls upon Lolita s life. What has happened to her is very
unfortunate and tragic indeed. At such a tender age she has to experience the sudden
death of her mother and sexual abuse by her stepfather. Later on she also becomes
an object of exploitation by the man she idolizes, she gets married when she is still
underage and she dies when giving birth. From all of those events it can be
concluded that the name Dolores Haze fits perfectly well to symbolize Lolita s sad
and tragic life. A man s horrible obsession towards her has ruined her life. An
otherwise happy and talented child has turned into a physically and emotionally
 broken child, who has to endure the trauma of sexual abuse till the day she dies.
iii) Nymphets
Nymphets symbolize the central objects of Humbert Humbert s illicit sexual
fantasies. In order to understand this symbol it would be best to look at the definition
of nymphet according to Grolier Encyclopaedia of Knowledge.
Nymphets or Nymphs, in Greek and Roman mythology, were female
nature spirits who were associated with such natural phenomena as
seas, rivers, mountains, woods, meadows, and caves, as well as with
specific localities. Young and beautiful, these mortal creatures figured
frequently in myth, sometimes as the love objects of the Olympian god
Apollo or of various nature deities. Although characteristically gentle
and benevolent, nymphs could also be vengeful and destructive
(1993:18).
Nymphets symbolizes Lolita and any other girl child whom Humbert Humbert looks
upon as being sexually desirable,
Now I wish to introduce the following idea. Between the age limit of
nine and fourteen there occurs maidens who, to certain bewitched
travellers, twice or many times older than they, reveal their true nature
which is not human but nymphic (that is demoniac); and these chosen
creatures I propose to designate as  nymphets (1997:16)
Nymphets exist only in Humbert Humbert s mind. What appears to be an ordinary
girl child to a normal man may be a nymphet to Humbert Humbert. According to
Humbert Humbert not every girl child can be considered as nymphets, nymphets are
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only the chosen ones, to be more specific, his chosen ones. In Humbert Humbert s
opinion the one who can recognize a nymphet is only a creature of infinite
melancholy like himself (p. 17). Humbert Humbert considers himself as a bewitched
traveller captured by the charm of the nymphets.
b. Symbols Reflected through the Setting
i) The Enchanted Hunters
The Enchanted Hunters is the name of the hotel where Humbert and Dolores
first have sexual intercourse. It can be interpreted that the name  enchanted hunters
symbolizes Humbert Humbert himself, and another man who is also in the hotel who
in the later chapters becomes the one who  abducted Lolita from the hospital.
Humbert Humbert is an enchanted hunter because he is alluded by Lolita s charm,
this is shown all throughout the novel even from the very beginning when he first
describes Lolita.
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta& she
was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my
arms she was always Lolita (1997:9)
Lolita is the object that he hunts. He describes himself as being like some predator
that prefers a moving prey to a motionless one (page 42). While the second  hunter
is Clare Quilty, the famous playwright on whom Lolita has a crush. Lolita is very
impressed with how Quilty looks, she immediately notices him when she has dinner
with Humbert Humbert referring him as the guy in the Dromes advertisement (page
121). Little does she realize that Quilty also considers her as an object to hunt,
because he has plans to exploit her.
It is important to note that the room number of the room Humbert Humbert
uses in the Enchanted Hunters is the same as the house number of the Haze s House
in Lawn Street:  342 . This symbolizes the fact that Humbert Humbert has made
Lolita into an object to hunt since the very first time he saw her. Room  342 is a
room full of mirrors which again stresses the fact that Lolita is Humbert Humbert s
target since every movement she makes is visible to Humbert Humbert the
enchanted hunter.
ii) The Lakes
The Lakes function as symbols of sexual desires. Throughout the whole novel
it can be seen that the setting of lakes is quite dominant. At the beginning of the
novel there is a place called Our Glass Lake or Hourglass Lake. It is a lake near
Ramsdale that Humbert Humbert wants to visit with Lolita, but the trips are
continually cancelled by Mrs. Haze or bad weather. It can be interpreted that
Humbert Humbert s sexual desires for Lolita is not fulfilled and difficult to be
realized when he still lives in the Haze s House. Humbert Humbert also sees
Charlotte as an obstacle to fulfilling his sexual desires and even though he marries
her he has absolutely no desire for her, this is symbolized in his imagination as
drowning Charlotte while they were both swimming on the lake (p. 86).
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Another setting of lakes is the lakes near Camp Q, where Lolita has her first
sexual experience. There are two small lakes in the woods, which are called Onyx or
Eryx, and finally there is a populous lake called Lake Climax. The two small lakes
reflect the sexual desires of Lolita and Barbara; their desires are purely childish and
are aroused more by curiosity rather than real desires. While Lake Climax
symbolizes Charlie s sexual desire for the two girls because it is him that leads the
two girls into their first sexual experiences. The name lake Climax itself is
symbolical, it can be interpreted that it is called Lake Climax because it is Charlie s
sexual desire that has caused Lolita to lose her innocence for the first time, and this
becomes a turning point in Lolita s life since later on it can be seen that Lolita is the
one who seduced Humbert Humbert even though with her child s mind she does not
fully  comprehend what she was doing.
She saw the stark act merely as part of a youngster s furtive world,
unknown to adults. While eager to impress me with the world of tough
kids, she was not quite prepared for certain discrepancies between a
kid s life and mine (1997: 133-134).
There is another lake, which is located in front of the Enchanted Hunters (p.
117), this symbolizes that Humbert Humbert s sexual desire for Lolita is getting
closer towards fulfilment. Another significant lake in the novel is the one Humbert
Humbert visualizes in his mind. Humbert Humbert imagines that if he were to paint
scenery it would consists of a lake.
There would have been a lake& there would have been poplars, apples,
a suburban Sunday. There would have been a fire opal dissolving
within a ripple-ringed pool, a last throb, a last dab of colour, stinging
red, smarting pink, a sigh, a wincing child (1997:134-135).
It can be seen from the quotations above that a child enters the picture in his
mind. Therefore the lake here symbolizes his sexual desire towards a child. It
stresses the fact that he is madly obsessed by his sexual desire for girl child or
nymphet in his own terms.
2. Theme
All of the symbols mentioned above help to convey the theme firstly by
giving the readers a vivid description of Humbert Humbert s obsession towards
Lolita. The use of the symbols Nymphets and the Enchanted Hunters help to convey
the idea of how mad and obscure Humbert Humbert s obsession for Lolita is. The
symbol of the lake helps to strengthen the fact that Humbert Humbert s sexual desire
for Lolita is the one that controls his behaviour. The symbol help to strengthen the
readers imagination of what is going on in the story, and how sick Humbert
Humbert s mind is. Secondly, the symbols help to convey the theme by reflecting
the effect or result of the obsession; this can be seen through the interpretation of the
names Humbert Humbert and Dolores Haze. As a result of his obsession Humbert
Humbert must lead a double and depressing life, meanwhile Lolita is one who
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suffers the most since Humbert Humbert s obsession has impaired her life and
damage is the one that cannot be fixed. Humbert Humbert has ruined her life and her
future by sexually abusing her and has changed her from an innocent little dreamy
girl into a mere object for fulfilling his desire.
Through the symbols it can be concluded that Humbert Humbert s obsession
is a blind obsession, meaning a very dark and obscure obsession that has caused him
do things that are considered immoral regardless of his background as a well-
educated man. It is an excessive obsession because he is controlled, guided and
possessed by his own obsession. As a result he  destroys his own life and the life of
innocent people especially the little girls that becomes the object of his lust.
Therefore, by observing all of the significant symbols which are reflected through
the main characters and the setting of the novel, it can be argued that the theme of
Nabokov s Lolita is that one s blind and excessive obsession towards something or
someone may destroy one s life and that of others.
5. Conclusion
In the novel it can be clearly seen that Nabokov has used symbols as means of
reflecting the theme. The interrelation of the symbols with the other intrinsic
elements of the novel such as the main characters and the setting help to convey the
theme that one s blind and excessive obsession towards something or someone may
destroy one s life and others. The symbols help to convey the theme by providing
the readers with a clear description of the obsession, and also the result or effect of
that obsession. The symbols, which are shown by the setting, through several events
of the story, and the through characters actions, conversations and behaviours have
helped the readers to get the internal logic of the story. It is by the use of symbols
that the hero s madness in the story can be fully understood. It can be seen that
symbols are highly significant in conveying the theme of the novel.
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