Lolita Lesson Plan

Why is it telling that Lolita cries every night when Humbert pretends to sleep?

Begin this discussion by asking students how Lolita is portrayed up to this point in the novel: she is witty, vulgar, crude, and aloof. There is little indication that she has been affected by her mother's death at all, and the way she talks to Humbert always seems to be coated in reference and irony.

When Humbert mentions that she cries every night, however, it may be the first truly humanizing moment for her. We have spent a fair bit of time in Humbert's point of view, and this short phrase reminds us that she is still her own person. The narrator has attempted to subsume her personality...