| Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov is a Russian-American writer,whom The New York Times once hailed as “the giant of world literature” when he died in 1977.Nabokov published his novel Lolita in 1955 which is considered as one of his most well-known works.The novel has been of much controversy since its birth.As a dazzling pearl in cultural history,the girl Lolita has not only surprised the literary world,but her image has also been an indispensable part of understanding popular culture.However,throughout the critical history,many scholars often ignore both the living condition and the character of Dolores Haze,the girl living a life in the name of “Lolita” most of the time.Instead,scholars first focused on the problem that to what extent Lolita is a romantic novel.Next,they expressed their appreciation of its artistic skills,and then a large number of essays wrote to explore the morality of Humbert and even the author Nabokov himself.From these perspectives,the image of the young girl Lolita has gradually changed from a simple “vixen” to a soulless “creation” for Humbert's artistic pursuit.And since the 1960 s when the feminist criticism has been booming,the “silence” of the young girl Lolita was finally found,and the image of her “victimization” gradually became clear.However,it is still a pity that most of the articles in the discussion of the young girl Lolita have inadvertently ignored her real name “Dolores Haze”,which makes their conclusions still seem to be manipulated under the perspective of Humbert: slightly simple and flat.The thesis endeavors to reconstruct the image of Dolores Haze with a deconstructed attitude.First,Dolores has been living in Humbert's narrative as “Lolita”,so it becomes extremely necessary to analyze Dolores from Humbert's perspective.The study finds that Humbert has a clear understanding of his identity as a “creator”,but this does not indicate that Lolita in his eyes is nothing but an illusion.In fact,Dolores in Humbert's eyes is full of flesh and blood,and her unique individuality under her beautiful skin also appears in his narrative.Secondly,the thesis searches for direct quotes and objective descriptions of Dolores and outsiders from the gap of Humbert's narrative,and tries to answer the sharp question: Does Dolores seduce Humbert? A careful textual analysis reveals that Dolores has a clear mind and sharp,logical cognitive abilities.Caught in an abnormal relationship with Humbert,her personality and life track suddenly change upside down.From this perspective,Dolores serves as a real victim.However,the expectation of a perfect victim leads to the separation of Dolores as a “sexual agency” and a “victim”.Third,since Dolores has long lived in the popular culture in the name of “Lolita”,the thesis selects the book covers of Lolita and its adapted film of the 1997 version to study Dolores' s image in the cultural context.Whether it is the cover or the movie,the popular culture's interpretation of Dolores' s image always emphasizes her “sexual agency” and her “sexual availability”,and this overwhelming interpretation indeed has nothing to do with Dolores Haze herself.The thesis reconstructs the image of Dolores Haze with a deconstructed attitude from three perspectives.It affirms Dolores' s “victimization”,but at the same time it does not deny her “sexual agency” and her sharp cognitive ability at all.Especially at the moments when the trend of feminism is surging,the richness and the reconstruction of Dolores Haze's image in this thesis certainly help us to understand a female individuality in a larger context. |
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