Cristian 6 - Close Reading

My second close entry leads us further along the plot into Part II, Chapter 1.

"By rubbing all this in, I succeeded in terrorizing Lo, who despite a
certain brash alertness of manner and spurts of wit was not as intelligent a
child as her I.Q. might suggest. But if I managed to establish that
background of shared secrecy and shared guilt, I was much less successful in
keeping her in good humor. Every morning during our yearlong travels I had
to devise some expectation, some special point in space and time for her to
look forward to, for her to survive till bedtime. Otherwise, deprived of a
shaping and sustaining purpose, the skeleton of her day sagged and
collapsed." (Pg. 151)

In the passage, during their beginning travels of the United States, Humbert realizes the danger of him being a convicted criminal if Dolores were to ever accuse him of rape or related crimes. He then fills her ear with a hypothetical scenario of him in prison and her living the sad life of an orphan. Humbert intentionally does this to manipulate Dolores, as confessed in the passage. It is clear that Humbert is a very dynamic character, at least in the readers. It can be dually assumed from textual evidence that either Humbert had ill intentions from the start or he was spurred into this state through the events that transpired in the novel.

From an analytical standpoint, the evolution of Humberts character can very well be a representation of the evolution of the pop culture and Post Modernist themes in the novel that were presented in the Critical Lens Expert prompt. Say for instance we choose the later of the assumptions that Humbert was changed by the events in the novel. Juxtaposed to the development of Consumerism in America, they both began with a burning desire to pursue an opportunity in good faith. But as time progressed, the intentions slowly changed over time to accommodate their own selfish interests rather than that of others. Humbert is the machine and Dolores is the raw material to be bent and molded to his will with enough force and careful procedure. The same level of interpretation can be drawn from the former assumption of Humbert's constant ill intentions. The same process was carried out and it was not until the effects were irreversible and careful reference to past events that we can see where these signs may have hinted that it was opportunistic manipulation from the very start.