In five pages this analysis of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov argues that the author was attempting to thematically portray innocence. Five sources are cited in the bibliography.
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reality. He wanted the book to be about love. Lolita is principally a love story. It is a story about an older man in love with the
forbidden, with youth, with innocence, and with the American culture that idealizes youth. Thesis: The presenting scenario is one of innocence but it remains abusive. The student will
note that the thesis is presented as the last sentence in the first paragraph and contains a summation of the argument. Americans are in love with the idea
of youth and innocence. It is a culture that idealizes and idolizes the components of youth. The American ideal of beauty is centered around youth and innocence.
The obsession that the character, Humbert, has with the young Delores is a reflection of the American obsession with youthful innocence. That the obsession includes both love and sexual
desire is a natural progression of the combination of youth and deviance from social norms. Wolfgang Goethe, in Faust, portrays innocence as embodied by the female ideal.
He bases his story, much as Nabokov does, on the supposition that man has a tendency toward self gratifying behaviors that lead him to seek pleasure at the cost of
innocence. The ideal, at least the American ideal, is centered on youth. Lolita is young but may not be the innocent that Humbert believes she is. She
is wise for her age and experienced beyond her years. this lack of innocence is the driving force behind the fear felt by Humbert. There seems to
be a general fear of growing older that oftentimes causes people to avoid the reality. Like Humbert, people tend to hide their fear inside of the belief that they