The annotated Lolita part # 3

It's apparent that Humbert finds the natural traits of a fully developed woman to be vulgar, he becomes disgusted by Valeria after the one thing that makes her romantically tolerable is recognized to be an illusion. He seems to also have some disdain for people that are uneducated or impoverished, or those who lacked grace. However, on the condition of little girls being compared to grown women, his feelings on what was vulgar and acceptable changed depending on which he was observing.

 "The bleached curl revealed its root, the down turned to prickles on a shaved shin, the mobile moist mouth...instead of a pale little gutter girl, Humbert Humbert had on his hands a large, puffy, short-legged, big breasted and practically brainless baba." (Pg.26)


 Humbert doesn't see these traits as vulgarity when it's coming from a young girl that he finds desirable. That's why Valeria's simpleness and naivety when she was performing more of the part of a young girl was actually something Humbert originally enjoyed, but when it became a reality that she was also a grown woman beyond being styled to look young, those same traits turned into being common and seen as dirty. From cute and innocent, she became brainless, and this happened at the same time when her facade revealed not to be something she could keep constant. All the things he finds endearing, when they turn out to be fake (even though he knew they were not real but decided to trick himself for his fantasy) they turn into something he is disgusted by. He knew her hair was bleached blonde, but when the root is revealed the fantasy dissolves, leaving him with only the judgment that she is a common woman that does things like bleach her hair. Although Humbert must've known that as a grown woman she grew coarser body hair, he was forced to come to terms with it when he felt the sharpness of it, that was when she went from a woman with attributes that reminded him of. Nymphet to one that actually needed to maintain her appearance (and sometimes failed to do so) another instance where this woman simply being of her age and being human destroyed his fantasy and therefore switched his whole perception of her. He thinks of a pale little gutter girl as a young girl who may have seemingly vulgar qualities but because he finds this attractive on a young girl it is infinitely different when a grown woman does the same things.