Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lolita, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Perversity, Obsession, and Art
Suburbia and American Consumer Culture
Exile, Homelessness and Road Narratives
Life and Literary Representation
Women, Innocence, and Male Fantasy
Patterns, Memory and Fate
Summary
Analysis
As Charlotte drives Lolita to Camp Q, Humbert Humbert dashes off to look through his nymphet’s underwear. In her room, he discovers two posters: one from an advertisement, with his name written next to a handsome male face, and another depicting a famous playwright, Clare Quilty. His snooping is interrupted by a call from the maid, Louise, the only other person left in the house. Louise gives Humbert a long, rambling love letter from Charlotte, which instructs him to leave the house unless he reciprocates her feelings and wishes to marry her, and also to act as Lolita’s father.
Quilty’s poster and Humbert’s name appear next to one another in Lolita’s bedroom. This foreshadows the final confrontation between Humbert and Quilty their rivalry and similarity regarding their passion for Lolita. Charlotte’s love letter is another event in the series of freak accidents—or twists of fate—that allow Humbert to become Lolita’s guardian. The exaggerated passion of the letter continues the parody of romantic stories which began in Chapter 11.
Themes
