Distortions of Reality
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Kristin Stoddart AL 204 Paper 2 Distortions of Reality In both Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, and Thomas Pynchon's novel The Crying of Lot 49, the protagonist is consumed by an obsession. These obsessions affect the characters' behavior, actions, and interaction with the world. Most importantly, however, both authors reveal that obsession distorts a person's perception of reality. In Lolita, the protagonist and narrator, Humbert Humbert, has an obsessive lust for nymphets which warps his view of the world, ultimately driving him to paranoia. His sexual fixation for nymphets is projected on all that he sees. It prevents him from seeing the world clearly, void of nymphet-sexual overtones. His interactions and perceptions of girls are consumed with sexual fantasy, which obstructs their true nature. He becomes delusional due to paranoia, causing his imagination to take hold of his notions of reality. Humbert writes the following accounts from a prison cell, where he is able to...

