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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Part 1, Chapter 27
Explanation and Analysis:
Other than a few flashbacks that detail Humbert Humbert’s upbringing in France, Lolita is primarily set in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. Notable locations include Ramsfield, the fictional New England town where Humbert Humbert meets Charlotte and Dolores “Lolita” Haze, and Beardsley, a fictional college-town somewhere on the East Coast of the United States. Most of the novel, however, takes place on the road as Humbert travels with Lolita across the country in order to conceal his sexual abuse of her from the authorities. America, as presented in the novel, is a nation defined by long highways, roadside tourist attractions, and anonymous motels.
Humbert describes these settings in the days after his abduction of Lolita:
All along our route countless motor courts proclaimed their vacancy in neon lights, ready to accommodate salesmen, escaped convicts, impotents, family groups, as well as the most corrupt and vigorous couples. Ah, gentle drivers gliding through summer’s black nights, what frolics, what twists of lust, you might see from your impeccable highways if Kumfy Kabins were suddenly drained of their pigments and became as transparent as boxes of glass!
Humbert describes the “countless motor courts” that were built in the middle of the 20th century, a period when the automobile became the primary mode of transportation for Americans. He imagines that these motels “accommodate salesmen, escaped convicts, impotents, family groups, as well as the most corrupt and vigorous couples.” His description suggests that these motels do not care what goes on inside their rooms, as long as the guests can afford the nightly rates. In his understanding of America, then, crime and vice are common but are ignored by the majority of the population.
Related Themes:
