The Annotated Lolita Post # 5

1. Do you know where your children are? Lolita is up to something and Humbert doesn't know what she's up to. Make a catalog of the signs that she is doing something behind her stepfather's back. To win, you must find at least seven.

There are several signs Lolita is up to something up until she takes off with Cue.

1) Before or in the beginning of Humbert and Lolita's trip through the midwest, Lolita disappeared to use the telephone, claiming to be using the bathroom.

2)Prior and during their journey Lolita has a newfound interest in the map and stops made on their journey. On her first trip with Humbert she seemed to have little interest in these things. At first Humbert thinks it to be a sign of maturing, but whenever they arrive at the destinations she urges them to go to based on her phony curiosity or nostalgia, her interest feigns. She is baiting Humbert to take a certain route because she is up to something, but can not hide her boredom with the locations themselves, throwing off her sharade.

3)On a day that Lolita seemed to had bee looking forward to, she complained of feeling "out of sorts". She charmed Humbert with the desire to stay in bed with fresh fruits and magazines. She put on her most adorable act, and when he runs her errands for her he thinks fondly of Lolita and feels a sense of "well being." When he gets home she sees she has been out, her sandals were dirty with gravel and her lipstick had been smudged. This was the first time he got a real forbodeing sense that she was up to something.

4) Humbert had been feeling followed for a while on their journey, a man has been keeping a safe distance behind them but always seemed to be there. At a stop Humbert spies Lolita speaking to the man and senses the familiarity she has with him. When he comes back she claims that he was asking directions.

5)Lolita lies where her and another girl from Beardsley had gone, changing her story constantly as Humbert questions her. It is apparent that she hasnt been any of the places she said she was at and that she was definitely not with a Beardsley girl, or any girl at all.

6)When Humbert is finally at the point where he is about to confront the man that had been following them in a car a safe distance behind them, he gets out of the car leaving Lolita in the front seat. As he approaches the car, Lolita started the car that was parked, later claiming that she was saving the day as the car began to move by itself. On top of that, as he was approaching the persuer, he made a quick U-turn and took off. After Lolita lies to Humbert, she immerses herself in the map, again showing an example of a strange newfound interest for the route of their journey that doesn't seem to be consistent with her attitude when they arrive at their rest stop destinations.

7)Possibly the most calculating clue was the fake telephone call from Beardsley that tore Humbert away from Lolita giving her a chance to converse with her persuer. Everything after that point seems to unfold in front of Humbert as both Lolita and her persuer seem to gain confidence, while at the same time Humbert's health fades, making him more helpless to the situation.