“My scheme was a marvel of primitive art: I would whizz over to Camp Q, tell Lolita her mother was about to undergo a major operation at an invented hospital, and then keep moving with my sleepy nymphet from inn to inn while her mother got better and better and finally died.” (106)
I think this illustrates one of two things: either a change in the way Humbert manipulates people, or a trend that we have been unable to notice up to this point. His plan is to tell Lolita a complete lie and keep her away from Ramsdale, assumedly forever. He has obviously manipulated other people in this story, but this is the first time, I think, where he completely puts his whole situation on one lie, that if exposed seems like it could ruin everything for him. Later, as it turns out when he has to tell Lo the truth, this is not the case because, as Humbert points out, “she had absolutely nowhere else to go” (142). but it seems to be a lot riskier venture than anything else he’s done.
The other thing I mentioned could be the fact that he has been telling lies like this the entire time. We’re supposed to believe what he says, but with the story he came up with to tell Lolita about her mother, how do we know he hasn’t been making up entire sections of his story? He seems to have just given us another reason to distrust him, even more so than before.
Why does Humbert want to keep Lolita from returning to Ramsdale for her mother’s funeral, or for any reason, and why does he feel the need to hide how she died?
--John Schaefer
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