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In addition, some critics focus their study on the art of Lolita. As Nabokov’s most widely known work, Lolita is also considered as a classic representative of postmodern literature. Some scholars stress on the postmodern features and language in Lolita. James Phelan believes that Lolita is “distinctive among novels because the pleasure in the style is found on almost every language” (Phelan, 1981:176). Peng Shu researches on the postmodern elements that exist in its narrative characteristics and artistic skills.
Many scholars have pointed out that many factors contribute to the characters’ tragedy. From the perspective of spiritual ecology, a case study can be added to the research of the character’s personality and the book.
3. Abnormal Desires
According to Lu Shuyuan, the imbalance of one’s spiritual ecology can be seen from losing control of one’s own desire. In the 20th century, American economy developed and pragmatism and hedonism were popular among people. People’s spiritual ecology had been damaged, which was reflected in deviant desire. Lolita is a story about human desire, about a middle-aged man who falls in love with a precocious adolescent girl. Desire is a fundamental force to move the story along. Due to their pursuit to material desire and sexual desire, people in the book experience a series of adventures, and eventually end their lives in tragedy.
3.1 Pursuit of Material Desire
In the western society, material and money play a dominant role, which make people become materialized, and the mass American culture is filled with vulgar forms of entertainment and material pursuit. After World War Ⅱ, America grew rapidly, the prosperity of commodity economy, the massive advertisement and the rise of media industry make the whole society full of material desire. Young people become the chief consumers in the 1950s. Under the influence of mass consumer culture, they are fond of material comforts and enjoy entertainment. Many young girls pursue fame and money at the cost of their youth and virginity. Movies and magazines are filled with the description of sexual misconduct. Moreover, school education was impacted by this social atmosphere. “John Dewey’s pragmatism was put forward under this historical background and prevailed after World War I. Experience is core of his educational ideological system” (Liu Xinke, 2002:236). John Dewey emphasizes that students should learn from experiences and teachers should teach outside classroom so that children can receive education in the place where they can move freely at any moment. In Dewey’s theory, education should offer students manipulative ability and practical experiences.
In America, government institutes tried to put Dewey’s theory into practice, but a large variety of problems kept coming constantly. Especially in 1940s and 1950s, various agencies just copy the theory and suffered from rigid structures, which resulted to the ignorance of moral education and quality education. As it described in the novel, schools organized a lot of camp’s activities in vacation time. However, in this kind of camps where children are allowed to develop their personality adequately and comprehensively, Lolita takes advantage of boating activities which she is good at to go to an island with her friend. In that small island, she and her friend take turns to have sexual intercourse with the camp owner’s son, not to mention other children who have the similar experience with Lolita. 源'自:751]'论-文'网"]www.751com.cn
After the death of Mrs. Haze, Humbert takes the responsibility of Lolita’s education. After settling down in a northeastern town of Beardsley, Humbert sends Lolita to the Beardsley School for Girls, which emphasizes social skills rather than intellectual achievement and makes Humbert very disappointed. The headmistress, Pratt, believes that Beardsley girls must focus on the “four D’s: Dramatics, Dance, Debating, and Dating” (Nabokov, 2000: 222). This pragmatist education misleads students to pursue material enjoyment and ignore the spiritual life.