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
Humbert Humbert and Lolita move into a house in Beardsley. When he goes to speak to Headmistress Pratt of the local girls’ school, he is horrified by its “modern,” curriculum, which stresses practical skills and preparing girls for the world of dating, marriage, and homemaking. Reluctantly, he decides to enroll Lolita.
As always, Humbert is horrified by the ordinary world of domestic life—especially suburban American life. As an intellectual and student of literature, he cannot bear to think that Lolita will only be learning practical skills. At the same time, his concerns are prosaic and base and truly vulgar: he is also worried about her dating, because of his jealousy.
Themes
