History TearJerker / Lolita

* Dolores breaks down sobbing after she sees a father and his young daughter having a normal, healthy and happy parent-child relationship. Something Humbert have ensured that she will never have.

** Assuming it's true. Which, given what a transparent riff it is on an Creator/EdgarAllanPoe poem, and how Humbert likes to play around with literal references, [[UnreliableNarrator the truthfulness of his story is rather debatable]].

** Assuming it's true. Which, given what a transparent riff it is on an Creator/EdgarAllenPoe poem, and how Humbert likes to play around with literal references, [[UnreliableNarrator the truthfulness of his story is rather debatable]].

* Humbert's backstory involving Annabel Leigh. Sure, Humbert is a {{jerkass}} pedo, but Annabel was a genuinely nice young girl who tragically died. If you don't 100% hate Humbert and are willing to feel sympathy for him, you'll find it one of the few redeeming aspects of his personality.
** Assuming it's true. Which, given what a transparent riff it is on an Edgar Allen Poe poem, is [[UnreliableNarrator debatable]].

* Humbert's backstory involving Annabel Leigh. Sure, Humbert is a {{jerkass}} paedo, but Annabel was a genuinely nice young girl who tragically died. If you don't 100% hate Humbert and are willing to feel sympathy for him, you'll find it one of the few redeeming aspects of his personality.

* Dolores's entire childhood. Made even more bitterly ironic by the fact that, had her mother not been hit by a car at the ''worst possible moment'', she would've been sent off to boarding school, far, far away from Humbert, and presumably lived a long, happy life. But because of a sick twist of fate, her childhood was destroyed, and she dies before reaching adulthood at eighteen.

* During one of the final scenes of the book, when Humbert asks Lolita to explain why she doesn't feel resentment towards Quilty for [[spoiler: molesting her and attempting to exploit her,]] he imagines her response. "He broke her heart. I merely broke her life."
* Lolita goes on to live a normal life, in a happy marriage [[spoiler:only to die giving birth to her first child, who was stillborn.]]
* Near the end of the book, Humbert recalls a moment when [[spoiler:after Lolita has left him, he hears the laughter of children in a school playground, and realizes that "the hopelessly poignant thing was not the absence of Lolita from my side, but the absence of her voice from that concord."]]

* The moment when Humbert meets a 17-year-old Lo and realises that he loves her as a ''person'', not just because she was a child. Coming from the man who repeatedly abused her, that "love" obviously doesn't mean anything, but it's especially heartbreaking to see that Humbert began to understand what he's done to Lolita way too late.

* Dolores's entire childhood. Made even more bitterly ironic by the fact that, had her mother not been hit by a car at the ''worst possible moment'', she would've been sent off to boarding school, far, far away from Humbert, and presumably lived a long, happy life. But because of a sick twist of fate, her childhood was destroyed, [[spoiler:and she dies before reaching adulthood at eighteen]].
* [[spoiler:Humbert's backstory involving Annabel Leigh. Sure, Humbert is a {{jerkass}} paedo, but Annabel was a genuinely nice young girl who tragically died. If you don't 100% hate Humbert and are willing to feel sympathy for him, you'll find it one of the few redeeming aspects of his personality.]]

* Music/EnnioMorricone's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uowmo_tFH8s main theme]] for the 1997 film is a DescentIntoDarknessSong that evokes this. It starts off sounding like a standard soundtrack for a romantic drama, but the notes become increasingly downbeat and off-key as the music goes on. It does the job of contrasting Humbert's fantasies about Lolita with the twisted reality of their relationship.

* Dolores breaks down sobbing after she sees a father and his young daughter having a normal, healthy and happy parent-child relationship. Something she will never have.

* Dolores's entire childhood. Made even more bitterly ironic by the fact that, had her mother not been hit by a car at the ''worst possible moment'', she would've been sent off to boarding school, far, far away from Humbert, and presumably lived a long, happy life. But because of a sick twist of fate, her childhood was destroyed, [[spoiler:and she dies at the age of eighteen]].

* [[spoiler:Humbert's backstory involving Annabel Leigh. Sure, Humbert is a {{jerkass}} paedo, but Annabel was a genuinely nice young girl who tragically died. If you don't 100% hate Humbert & are willing to feel sympathy for him, you'll find it one of the few redeeming aspects of his personality.]]

* The moment when Humbert meets a 17-year-old Lo and realises that he loves her as a ''person'', not just because she was a child. Coming from the man who repeatedly abused her, that "love" obviously doesn't mean anything, but it's especially heartbreaking to see that Humbert began to understand what he's done to Lolita way. too. late.

* Dolores's entire childhood. Made even more bitterly ironic by the fact that, had her mother not been hit by a car at the ''worst possible moment'', she would've been sent off to boarding school, far, far away from Humbert, and presumably lived a long, happy life. But because of a sick twist of fate, her childhood was destroyed, [[spoiler:and she dies at the age of eighteen.]]
* [[spoiler: Humbert's backstory involving Annabel Leigh. Sure, Humbert is a {{jerkass}} paedo, but Annabel was a genuinely nice young girl who tragically died. If you don't 100% hate Humbert & are willing to feel sympathy for him, you'll find it one of the few redeeming aspects of his personality.]]
* In the novel and the 1997 film Dolores's and Humbert die. However, in Kubrick's film only Humbert dies. This makes Humbert's death even more tragic, showing that by killing Quilty he secured Dolores's future at the cost of his own life.

* During one of the final scenes of the book, when Humbert asks Lolita to explain why she doesn't feel resentment towards Quilty for [[spoiler: molesting her and attempting to exploit her,]] he imagines her response. "He broke her heart. I merely broke her life." Characters/Lolita

* During one of the final scenes of the book, when Humbert asks Lolita to explain why she doesn't feel resentment towards Quilty for [[spoiler: molesting her and attempting to exploit her,]] he imagines her response. "He broke her heart. I merely broke her life."