Figurative Language In Lolita

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.” (Nabokov 9). Vladimir Nabokov’s language in Lolita displays the enchanting power of language in its most innate form. In the classic dark love story of Humbert Humbert, the pedophile, and Dolores Haze, the naïve child, Nabokov 's choice in syntax encapsulates the audience’s attention from line to line, readers only hoping to understand the complexity of a character such as Humbert Humbert. The usage of literary devices aid in building Humbert Humbert’s character in Lolita as his thought process and narrative exposes itself through poetic diction. Humbert’s twisted thoughts accompanied by his abnormal nature is best revealed with foreshadowing, point of view, and figurative language

Lolita is choke full of metaphors and figurative language, with each scene being rich with embedded literary easter eggs. Leading up to a major revelation that she is leaving him, Humbert descibres his wife, Valeria, in unflattering terms that reveal Humberts lack of respect for adults, which keeps to a pattern as even when he is describing his future late wife Charlotte later in the book he uses derogorory and bestial terms. This usage of animal metaphors goes to show his impudent attitude towards the mature persons he should be relating with as he further states, [Valeria] waddled by [Humbert’s] side, [beginning] to shake her poodle head-.” (Nabokov 27). Words like “waddled” compare Valeria, grown women, to that of an animal, as well as comparing her head to that of a “poodles”. This way with words Humbert possess seems to concretize and flourish in his crude descriptions of fellow adults that go to further show Humbert as a lost individual whose antisocial nature combined with a fetish for children created this literally gifted man with a horrific secret/ horrific impulse/