Summary: Chapter 12
After Lolita recovers from an illness, Humbert allows
her to throw a small party with boys. The party isn’t a success,
and the boys don’t impress Lolita, which is such a relief for Humbert
that he buys her a new tennis racket. For her birthday, he buys
her a bicycle and a book of modern American paintings, and while
he enjoys watching her ride the bike, he remains disappointed by
her inability to appreciate fine art.
Summary: Chapter 13
Lolita begins rehearsing for a play entitled The
Enchanted Hunters, in which she plays a farmer’s daughter
who bewitches a number of hunters. Humbert notes that the play has
the same name as the hotel he and Lolita first stayed in, but he
doesn’t think much of it. He also doesn’t mention the coincidence
to Lolita, for fear that she’ll mock him and his nostalgia. At the
time, Humbert assumes the play is nothing more than a trifling work
written specifically for schoolchildren. He tells the reader that
he now knows the play to be a recent composition, written by a noted
playwright. Humbert scoffs at the play’s overt romanticism and fantasy.
One day, as Lolita rides her bike, she teasingly asks Humbert if
the Enchanted Hunters was, in fact, the name of the hotel where
he first raped her.
Summary: Chapter 14
Some days later, Humbert becomes outraged when he gets
a call from Lolita’s piano teacher, who tells him that Lolita has
been missing her lessons. When confronted, Lolita claims she has
been rehearsing for the play in a local park. Lolita’s friend Mona
corroborates the story, but Humbert assumes both girls are lying.
While Humbert and Lolita discuss the issue heatedly, he realizes
that she’s changed and possesses fewer nymphet qualities. Humbert
panics and threatens to take her away from Beardsley if she continues lying.
Lolita becomes furious, and they have a loud, angry fight in which
she accuses him of violating her and murdering her mother. Humbert
grabs her by the wrist and attempts to restrain her. Just then,
a neighbor calls to complain about the noise, and as Humbert apologizes,
Lolita escapes from the house. Humbert drives around looking for
her and finally finds her in a telephone booth. Lolita tells Humbert
that she hates the school and the play and wants to leave Beardsley,
but only if they go where she wants to go. Relieved, Humbert agrees
to her demands. At home, Lolita tells Humbert to carry her upstairs,
as she’s feeling romantic. Humbert confesses that this brought him
to tears.
Summary: Chapter 15
Humbert tells the school that he’s been hired as a consultant
for a movie in Hollywood, but promises to return. Excited to be
traveling again, Lolita plans out where they’ll go and where they’ll
stay. As they’re driving away from the town, Edusa Gold, the acting
coach, pulls up alongside them in her car. She says it’s a shame
Lolita couldn’t finish the play, since the playwright himself was
so taken with her. As Edusa drives off, Humbert asks Lolita who
wrote the play. Lolita tells him it was some old woman, “Clare Something.” With
that, Humbert and Lolita start their travels.
Summary: Chapter 16
Humbert and Lolita stay in a succession of hotels. Humbert
keeps a very close watch on Lolita, to keep her from communicating
with anyone he doesn’t know. However, Lolita occasionally manages
to disappear, even under Humbert’s watchful eye. She changes her mind
often about their destinations, sometimes wanting to stay on for
no apparent reason. One day, Humbert goes out but suddenly feels
nervous, and he returns to the hotel room to find Lolita completely
dressed. Humbert’s suspicions, while still vague, grow stronger.
Summary: Chapter 17
Humbert secretly keeps a gun that belonged to Lolita’s
father and stands guard with it at night. He reminds the reader
that, in Freudian analysis, a gun represents the father’s phallus.
