2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

‘Humbert might be deemed unreliable on the grounds that he considers himself to have a duty to retell events with accuracy at the same time as admitting to having an incomplete memory’ (Wasmuth, 2009). Humbert also mixes up events throughout the novel when confusing two separate visits to Briceland with Rita, exposing the unreliability of his memory. There are multiple indicators which can be deduced from Humbert’s writing, pointing to him being an unreliable narrator: - Humbert admits he has a fallible memory - Humbert claims to have responsibility to reproduce texts in their authentic and initial state (as seen when talking about Charlotte’s letter), however he has a tendency of displaying bias retellings - Humbert states he has a photographic memory and yet displays a fallible memory by mixing up the order of events These signs create doubt in the mind of the reader, making them sway towards believing that Humbert is unreliable due to the fact the story is based on past events and Humbert can only rely on his memories to compile his narration. The overall purpose of providing these indicators in the novel is so that the reader is challenged and criticised regarding their ability to ‘judge’ a person on their actions, this points to Nabokov’s purpose of creating such an unreliable narrator is to reveal to readers that the term ‘morality’ does not include any absolute definitions as to what is right and wrong. The psychology of Humbert Humbert creates a very distrustful allusion of himself as he reveals throughout his writing that he is more than capable of lying. ‘After a close examination of the pointedly detailed chronology of Humbert’s last nine chapter throws his writing time

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