2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

illness’ (Wasmuth, 2009). Again, believing that this is Humbert purely attempting to assert his claims of illness. At the same time, Humbert does continue to show signs of mental illness, schizophrenia in particular, during the section he describes his life as a “split world” or “monstrously twofold”(p.17) as well as suffering from hallucinations (p.246). These signs point to Humbert having the ability to see things which are not necessarily there, naturally impacting his ability to retell his story accurately. One could question to what extent the memoir put forward was a product of his imagination, or at least certain passages, again pointing to Humbert being highly unreliable and that his story is untrustworthy. Humbert also has difficulties taking responsibility for his illegal and improper actions. ‘He uses nympholepcy as an excuse to take the blame for his actions as well as then having the power to make the reader sympathise for his cause’ (Ghez, 2011). Via the use of this term, Humbert implies that it is a recognised disease, and that he is not the only case. ‘A sick man cannot be considered responsible for his actions and Humbert does his best to emphasize this argument’ (Ghez, 2011). This becomes clear when Humbert defends sex offenders saying they are “timid, passive strangers who merely ask the community to allow them to pursue their practically harmless, so- called aberrant behaviour … We are not sex fiends! We do not rape as good soldiers do.” (p.98). This reveals Humbert using this self-diagnosed illness to ask for sympathy and understanding from the audience, suggesting he cannot be blamed for his actions. Nabokov pushes the reader to think about societal norms, whether they are morally correct or not. The audience When reading Lolita, it is vital for the reader to consider who Humbert pictures as his audience for his memoir as well as debating over his motives behind writing Lolita.

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