Term Paper on "Nabokov's Lolita and Camus the Stranger"

Term Paper 7 pages (2246 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Free will and deviant behavior: "Otherness" of individual freedom in "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov and "The Stranger" by Albert Camus

Literature has always influenced humanity by interpreting the most mundane events and activities in the life of people into the most creative and expressive forms of art. Through these interpretations, human life is given more meaning and hence, creates more relevance and significance to human society. It is perhaps a rare occurrence to depict the extraordinary or 'unthinkable' scenario in literary works, especially when the theme of human suffering and sorrow is depicted. Because human sorrow is a universal feeling that everyone experiences, the absence of this feeling in literature makes the literary work an extraordinary or unrealistic illustration of life.

Indeed, the latter category of literature is evident in the works Vladimir Nabokov and Albert Camus, authors of the novels "Lolita" and "The Stranger," respectively. In both literary works, the theme of exercising one's individual freedom or free will is illustrated through each novel's protagonist's deviant behavior. This paper discusses and analyzes how this theme is depicted through each author's characterization of their protagonists, including events that helped reinforce the deviant behavior that they had decided to adopt and exercise in their rigidly conservative society.

In the texts that follow, discussion and analysis of the two novels subsist to the thesis that the concept of free will in "Lolita" and "The Stranger" is demonstrated through deviant behavior, and how this exercise of individual freedom ultimately led to the downfall or destruction of the protagonist in the end.

Camus elucidates the main argument that this paper presents: in the preface to "The Stranger," he identifies the character of Meursault, the novel's protagonist, suffering a downfall "because he does not play the game." In this paper, the characters' inability to 'play the game' that society sets out for each individual leads to their isolation from and eventually, condemnation from, the society. Non-conformity to the norms of society through the exercise of one's free will is considered deviant, and society considers that it is its function to ensure that deviant behavior is not tolerated in order to preserve the 'order' and stability that social norms and rules offer to civil society.

In the novel "Lolita," the exercise of free will and depiction of deviant behavior is reflected in the character of Humbert, the novel's protagonist and narrator. In Nabokov's literary piece, he portrays Humbert as emotionally unstable due to his unrealized desires for his childhood sweetheart Annabel. This characterization already serves as a foreshadowing of future events that will happen in the novel, wherein readers identify Humbert's character as a deviant of his society. His memoirs of an emotionally unstable development to being a man is stated as follows, wherein he assumes a tone of longing and sadness for his "Annabel": "...the haze of stars, the tingle, the flame, the honey-dew, and the ache remained with me, and that little girl with her seaside limbs and ardent tongue haunted me ever since -- until at last, twenty-four years later, I broke her spell by incarnating her in another..."

This passage serves as a reflection of Humbert's train of thought throughout the novel. The vivid description of his sexual relations with Annabel and the perverse manner in which he tries to re-'incarnate' Annabel in the person of Lolita demonstrates the unstable condition of the protagonist. Evidently, the early loss of Annabel in his life made Humbert feel incapacitated because he did not experience control over his life at an early age -- that is, he was not able to live his life the way he wanted it to be. Booker (1993) considers Humbert's preoccupation in establishing sexual relations with young women and girls as not only a result of his perverse behavior, but also reflects his need to dominate, "allowing him to shore up his sense through the exertion of his power over them" (74). In this sense, Nabokov's character tries to exert his free will by realizing once again his life as he had last gave meaning to it -- the time where he last made sexual relations with Annabel. This realization is accomplished through Lolita; only, his realization of his desires and fantasies did not subsist to society's norms of what fulfillment of desire really means. Establishing sexual relations with Lolita, Humbert has further plunged himself to alienation from his society, leading him to involve him and Lolita to numerous 'road trips' that attempt to conceal the true nature of their relationship.

In Humbert's perspective, what he is doing is just natural, his own way of expressing himself; but for the society, his actions and behavior are interpreted as deviant, even bordering towards abnormal, mistaking his relationship with Lolita as an act of molestation. This view is shared both by the society and Quilty's character, who considers himself 'more normal' than Humbert (despite his being a pornographer) because he "saved Lolita 'from a beastly pervert' and that he...is 'not responsible for the rapes of others'" (Yaeger, 1989:148). Thus, Humbert goes beyond understanding for human society: his interest for 'nymphets,' young girls like Lolita, lies on a different level of understanding not confronted by members of his society. This can be interpreted as a reflection of how binding the influence of conformity in society is in "Lolita." Humbert's deviant behavior ultimately leads to his freedom and imprisonment -- freedom, because he is able to do and express things whenever he wants to, and imprisonment, because he is labeled and stigmatized by a society who cannot truly understand the state of consciousness where Humbert's reality lies.

Inevitably, his deviant ways created a detriment in the way he deals with his 'normal world,' the world where he interacts with society, a world that not limited to only him and Lolita. His belief that Lolita is his possession that Quilty had taken away from him led Humbert kill Lolita's so-called abductor -- the pivotal point marking his downfall as a 'free man' in his society. Destruction of his free will occurred with his commitment of Quilty's murder, an event that is considered Humbert's act of "redemption" and "purification" as a free individual, finally succumbing to the norms of society as he is imprisoned for the murder of Quilty (Skerner, 1966:105).

Furthermore, Quilty's murder also marked the deconstruction of the fantasies that Humbert harbored all throughout his life, fantasies that are, for him, realities wherein he and Lolita are contented as lovers. With his imprisonment, he loses his ability to exercise his freedom as an individual. Reality invades his psyche, making the readers realize how they have been living in Humbert's abnormal world, a deviant who is not only deviant from his own society, but a deviant from the deviants' society as well. These realizations resulted to Humbert's perceived suspicion that "communication has broken down between himself and his child...Mutual trust is replaced by a shameful system of bargains and bribes" (Dupee, 1957:90). Nabokov's protagonist is like a human being in its most savage and natural state, destroyed and stripped of its essence when he became 'civilized' through society's norms and rules, making him aware of his shortcomings, what he is not, and what he ought to be.

Meursault in "The Stranger" is characterized differently from Humbert's image in "Lolita," yet, there is a semblance between the two characters in that they have a different level of consciousness from other people in their society. Camus illustrates his protagonist as a productive individual who lives a simple life, devoid of any complications and motivated by Meursault's laziness and indifferent attitude towards other people and his realities. In the preface to his novel, Camus, apart from positing that Meursault failed to 'play the game' of society, also asserts that the protagonist committed one tragic flaw that is prevalent in human society -- that is, "he refuses to lie."

In the novel, Meursault expresses his own sense of individual freedom or free will by showing no remorse upon his mother's death and becoming indifferent to the fact that he had been charged of and convicted for murder. His indifferent character is reflected in the first lines of the novel, wherein he shows no concern whether his mother had died today, yesterday, or maybe even to the fact that his mother was already dead. In the novel, Meursault narrates, "Maman died today. Or yesterday, maybe. I don't know...I got a telegram from the home: 'Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday." This passage highlights the character's remarkable personality, an individual who seem to be devoid of any emotions except for his thoughts and biological or sensory experiences and feelings.

Like Humbert, Meursault is like the savage and uncivilized human being who has yet to learn the appropriate reactions and norms that society imposes upon people. Even when he was charged for killing an Arab, he does not express any human feeling. Remarkably, the only event wherein Camus portrays Meursault's character as possessing human… READ MORE

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