"Lolita"- Describe your favorite part

When I started to read Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita", I wondered how come this book was considered as a classic. After the fifteenth first pages, I had to force myself not to throw that book away or to burn it. When I chose to describe my favourite part of the story, I never thought it would be so hard even tough I knew the book was about a thirty-something years old man molesting his twelve years old stepdaughter. I did find a part in the story that could be considered my favourite. It is when the main character describes how he is going to kill his wife. I know it may sound a little bit sadistic but I really liked the way Humbert Humbert, the main character, planned every single detail of his attempted murder.

The way it is describe is not quite interesting. Some descriptions of Dolores are written better than this, but the way the main character explain every circumstances is simple and realistic. For example, when Humbert Humbert thinks: “The setting was really perfect for a brisk bubbling murder, and here was the subtle point: the man of law and the man of water were just near enough not to observe a crime. They were near enough to hear a distracted bather thrashing about and bellowing for somebody to come and help him save his drowning wife; and they were too far to distinguish (if they happened to look too soon) that the anything but distracted swimmer was finishing to tread his wife underfoot.” I like how simple he explains every detail, especially the one about the two other men near him and his wife and also, how determinate he is. A normal person would’ve probably thought that the murder would’ve been impossible near the men but not Humbert Humbert.

A couple of lines later he speaks directly to us, the readers, when he says: “Simple, was it not? But what d’ye know, folks- I just could not make myself do it!” It’s interesting that the main character directly speaks to the reader through his journal. Even if I find this character disgusting and repugnant, by those kinds of thoughts expressed in his personal notes, I realize that he’s still just a human person. I can’t say that he is normal and I don’t feel any sympathy for this awful man but every time I read this kind of sentences, it just reminds me how weird the human being is. He really wanted to kill his wife to be closer to his stepdaughter Dolores but couldn’t do it. I just don’t understand how a man who can’t kill someone can molest and confine a twelve years old little girl and kill her childhood. What I think is worst is that the main character is aware that what he’s doing is bad but he is selfish and he only thinks about his own pleasure.

Tryst-Vocabulary

-Cad: A man whose behavior is unprincipled or dishonorable.

-Wooing: a man's courting of a woman; seeking the affections of a woman (usually with the hope of marriage); "its was a brief and intense courtship

-Fleecing: To defraud of money or property; swindle.

-Seamstress: A woman who sews, especially one who makes her living by sewing.

-Spinster: an elderly unmarried woman

-Milliner: One that makes, trims, designs, or sells hats.

-Brooch: A relatively large decorative pin or clasp.

-Gawping: look with amazement; look stupidly

-Blandishments: the act of urging by means of teasing or flattery

-Handkerchief: A small square of cloth used especially for wiping the nose or mouth.

Mid-term writing test

1-What is Louise Mallard’s opinion of marriage? Indicate the paragraph that suggests it?


She thinks that marriage is just a way to impose your private will on someone else. (paragraphe number twelve)







2-Why does Louise Mallard suddenly stop crying? Indicate the place in the text?



She stops crying because she suddenly realize that she'll be free; she will now start to live for herself instead of others. (paragraphe number 12)





3-How does she feel about her future as a widow? Cite the line in the text, using just the first few words, then a series of dots …?



"There would be no one to live for during those coming years..."

"Free! Body and soul free!"





7-Explain how Louise can feel joy and sadness at the same time?



She's sad because she just learned that her husband died in a train accident but she's also happy because she's going to enjoy all the little things of life on her own. She feels joy because she's now a free person.

Irony of "The story of an hour"

You might think that a story about a wife who loses her husband is sad but not in every cases. In “The story of an hour” by Kate Chopin, the use of irony in the text just gives the story a funny way of looking at death. Louise, the main character, is a young woman with a heart disease who just learned that her husband died in a train accident. She’s sad at the beginning but she then realize that she’s free of everything. What sound a little ironic to me are the descriptions of what Louise was looking at when she was sitting in her chair: “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.” The woman is sad and instead of seeing sad things, life goes on around her. It introduces very well how the main character changes her mind after a few minutes. She stops thinking about her husband and she thinks about her.

Another part in the story were I think the author is ironic is when she describes Louise’s perception of marriage which is really close to the definition of Ambrose Bierce in The Devil’s dictionary: “The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.” Louise’s opinion of marriage is quite the same when she realizes that: “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” All of a sudden she starts thinking about living her life on her own. She entered her room alone and sad but she came out of it with “a feverish triumph in her eyes”.

Finally, the way Louise’s sister and Richards are treating her is pretty ironic too considering that if Richard didn’t told Louise her husband had died, she wouldn’t have died neither. It’s also interesting that the author specified “he had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram…” And then, surprise! The husband appears like a “Jack-In-The-Box” at the end of the story. The reactions of all the characters at the end are funny as well. The husband just opened the door like if nothing had happens, without knowing anything about what was going on. Richards gets in Louise’s view to hide her husband behind is back even though it didn’t work very well. Josephine screamed and the wife died of a heart disease.

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