Study Questions & Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. How does the novel’s first-person
narration affect our perception of the events being described?
2. Many characters die in the novel.
How are these deaths significant to the story?
Suggested Essay Topics
1. In his narrative, Humbert often uses aliases to protect
people’s identities. What does his choice of the personal pseudonym “Humbert
Humbert” indicate?
2. How do Lolita and Humbert differ in their abilities
to deal with the past? What do these differences reveal about their characters?
3. How does the novel treat the theme of romantic betrayal?
4. Lolita contains many recurring words
and linguistic patterns. What is the purpose of these patterns?
Do they all have meanings? How do they add to the text?
5. What is the purpose of the foreword by John Ray,
Jr., Ph.D.? Why might Nabokov have chosen to include a foreword
from a character who never appears in the story?
6. To what extent does Lolita have
a moral? How does Nabokov attempt to convey this moral, or lack
thereof?
