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
Lolita devises a way of taking advantage of Humbert. She demands more and more pocket money and favors in exchange for affectionate caress or sex act. Humbert begins to worry she will save enough to run away to Hollywood, or to somewhere she can secure a job.
Humbert has turned Lolita into an unwilling prostitute. But his constant deceit has begun to make her savvy: she is learning how to take advantage of him. In many ways, this shift characterizes the entire arc of Lolita’s life with Humbert. He begins by tricking her, and she escapes by tricking him.
Themes
