arly in the chapters to come. The first part of the odyssey is Humbert’s quest to reacquire his first love, Annabel. Annabel had died while she and Humbert were merely two youths in love. Her death left Humbert permanently scarred. Humbert admits, “ . . . the shock of Annabel’s death . . . made of it a permanent obstacle to any further romance throughout the cold years of [his] youth”(Nabokov, 14). This, as Homer would comment, is the principle reason for Humbert’s epic journey and would be paralleled to Odysseus’ yearning to reach home.The second part of Humbert’s odyssey is his quest to keep Lolita at the same stage of her life that Annabel was at when she had passed away. Homer would agree that the second part of Humbert’s odyssey would complement Odysseus’ regaining of his house from the suitors. Unlike the second part of Odysseus’ odyssey, Humbert’s second part is not nearly as obvious. The first hint of Humbert’s second odyssey comes when he says, “ . . . Lolita began with Annabel”(Nabokov, 14). This is the first of many references made by Humbert comparing Lolita with Annabel. The most obvious of these references occurs when Humbert, speaking of Lolita, calls her, “ . . . Annabel Haze, alias Dolores Lee, alias Loleeta . . .”(Nabokov, 167). In this reference Humbert actually associates Annabel and Lolita as the same person. By doing this he shows the reader that to him, Lolita is Annabel, and she will be Annabel to him as long as he can has any control over Lolita. Homer’s opinion of Humbert’s odyssey would also point out the many similarities between Humbert’s manner of conducting himself and Odysseus’s manner of conducting himself. Both of these men are skilled and clever, in their own respects, in the way that they overcome the many obstacles that they face. Through quick thinking they avoid be...
