The End

     Humbert's psychoanalysis of himself changes from being to end. He writes about himself more as if he is a monster, rather than a human. It's an interesting change, but rather dramatic. He becomes less analytic and more enraged with himself. 

     In chapters 18-20, it's easy to see he becomes rather judgmental of himself and starts to use psychological wording. It might be because he is writing this from memory rather then when it happened, but as soon as he and the reader understand he is about to lose Lolita, the way he writes about himself with pity and disgusted. It might be a ploy, but it might also be the way he really thinks about himself.  "In fact--said high-and-dry Humbert to floundering Humbert--it might be quite clever to prepare things--to transfer the weapon [his gun] from box to pocket--so as to be ready to take advantage of the spell of insanity when it does come" (229). He talks about insanity as if he knows and understands what insanity is; he self-diagnosis his illness. However, the reader knows he isn't insane, just a love-sick man who is will to protect the girl he loves by any means possible. Even though that sounds rather beautiful, the story is ugly. He does lose her, and becomes rather crazed.

     In chapters 27-29, he can hardly control his urges for the little nymphets, but he also finds Lolita. Humbert is uncontrollably in love with nymphets, but since he was able to be with one and really love her, his urges were bearable. "Since I sometimes won the race between my fancy and nature's reality, the deception was bearable" (264). Lolita rights Humbert a letter, just as a daughter would to a father, asking him for money (266). When she does this, he hopes in his beat up sedan and drives through the night to find her. When he does find her, he still argues that he loves her and begs for her to come back with him. "I looked and looked at her, and knew as clearly as I know I am to die, that I loved her more than anything I had ever seen or imagined on earth, or hoped for anywhere else" (277). When he realizes this, he begs her to come back with him, but she says no. At this point he makes the reader feel sorry for him. He tries to justify killing Quilty by how much he loved Lolita. 

      From chapter 33 to the end of the book, Humbert is set on killing Quilty. The scene around Humbert killing Quilty is rather dramatic, but it seems as if that's what Humbert wanted. he wanted it to be as dramatic for Quilty as it had been for Humbert to lose Lolita. He wanted Quilty to feel the pain of no longer having what he loved. Humbert was proud he killed Quilty and wanted everyone to know. "I may have lost contact with reality for a second or two--oh, nothing of the I-just-blacked-out sort that your common criminal enacts; on the contrary, I want to stress the fact that I was responsible for every shed drop of his bubbleblood; but a kind of momentary shift occurred as if I were in the connubial bedroom, and Charlotte were in the bedroom" (304). It obvious that Humbert wanted everyone to know he killed Quilty. He was proud of it because he finally took away what was most important to him as he had taken away the most important thing to Humbert: Lolita. 

     In looking at these few passages, one can see the shift in Humbert. He no longer wants to analyze himself, but all of his thoughts and feelings out. He acts like a man about to die in the last part, which would justify is actions. He still wants to be seen as a love to Lolita, but to the rest of the world, he wants to be seen as the monster who killed Quilty.