The Annotated Lolita Post # 6

The whole chain of events right before murdering Quilty can be seen as a game. First there was the maze within the house to find Quilty, then there was the wrestling match, each character within a wrestling "uniform" that represents how Humbert sees them.  Then there is the reading of the poem that is the climax of the game, then the mad-chase/murder scene.

When Humbert observes Quilty's furniture at his point of entry into his home, he points out a library full of flowers (Nabokov's touch perhaps) and a polar bear skin rug. These seem to convey a sort of flashy luxury that I was surprised to see Humbert did not blatantly ridicule or criticize. He looks about the house for Quilty feeling crazed and insane, but not necessarily enraged. In a way, although Humbert goes to Quilty to murder him, his approach in a lot of ways is more emotional than angry. Once Humbert finally finds Quilty within the house, after an almost humorous conversation/wrestling match they finally settle down and Humbert reads him some poetry.

Quilty, even with a gun pointed at him, mocks Humbert as well as portrays the perspective that I feel society would see his poem in. It is almost like he is the non emotional rational voice commenting to show the insanity and emotion that Humbert is radiating. Even though he also likes young girls, it does not seem to consume his life like it does Humbert's, which is why he doesn't relate to Humbert's writing. Then again, he did have a gun pointed at him so his reaction might not mean much. This is a difficult scene to get to the bottom of. What I do know is that Quilty's somewhat understandable response to the poem is that: though there is pretty language, the notes of lust are clear, and his phrasing is crazed and repetitive.

 As a reader, at this point I was starting to actually feel sympathy for Humbert--the clumsy affair that lead up to the murder was as pathetic as it was disturbing. it's almost as if Humbert made Quilty out to be his more cruel and perverted double of himself, one with the double the confidence and wealth that he had, one that knew better than he did on how to function in society...also one that was able to sample the same desires that Humbert had without letting them ruin his life. Humbert in dark and serious attire, Quilty in a tacky robe with his hairy chest exposed. The way Humbert dramatizes and compares the two characters side by side, as well as once again painting himself to be the poetic and broody part of the equation which is how he likes to see himself, is one of the many things about this section that brings up the issue of the reliability of the narrator.