Cristian 3 - Responding and Reflecting

To kick off my second responding and reflecting entry, I will be going through a passage from Chapter 22 of Lolita.

"The Haze woman, the big bitch, the old cat, the obnoxious mamma,
the--the old stupid Haze is no longer your dupe. She has--she has . . ."
My fair accuser stopped, swallowing her venom and her tears. Whatever
Humbert Humbert said--or attempted to say--is inessential. She went on:
"You're a monster. You're a detestable, abominable, criminal fraud. If
you come near--I'll scream out the window. Get back!" (Pg. 91)

With a plot that involves such complicated secrecy and blind passion, I saw the inevitability of this moment coming from a mile away. For context, this exchange is Humbert and Humbert's fiancee Charlotte, shortly after she discovers his secret diary that contained his negative thoughts of her and, most importantly, accounts of his fondness for Dolores. But at this point, even with Charlotte's rage, I knew Humbert would persevere or else there wouldn't be 200 pages left in the book. Nevertheless, the intensity of the situation made me keep on reading, just to see how Humbert would recover from such a devastating setback.

And they I stopped and asked myself "Am I really rooting for this guy?" It was an odd question to ask but seeing that it was purely fiction, I answered to myself "Maybe." The fact of the matter that Humbert had grown on me as character which I had empathy for. As troubled as he was, Dolores seemed to be the only thing keeping him happy at this point. And I realized that was in jeopardy of being taken away from him. He'd had already been through enough things being taken from him that placed him in the mental and emotional state he was currently in. This normalized rationale of the situation was a turning point in the text for me as it opened my eyes a bit to the approach that I was taking with the novel and ultimately, its impact on my own thinking.