Dolores Haze vs. Annabel Leigh

Humbert Humbert repeatedly refers to Dolores as Annabel. When he was around the age of thirteen, he fell in love with Annabel. This was a significant relationship, for Annabel Leigh was the only female he ever loved that was his age. They were in love and explored each other's sexuality and bodies. They attempted to make love but were unsuccessful every time. This is where an interesting theory can be explored. Perhaps Humbert Humbert is attracted to young girls because he wishes to return to that time in his life to possess that girl he shamelessly loved, “We loved each other with a premature love, marked by a fierceness that so often destroys adult lives.” (18) Is this a possible explanation given by Humbert Humbert to show why he is in love with nymphets now? Is it possible that he believes there is still hope to make love to an Annabel? It seems that he as an emotional attachment to Annabel, for he still remembers her and refers to her many times throughout the novel. He never got that chance to love, to possess, Annabel before she died.
Though Dolores and Annabel existed in different time periods, they seem connected in some uncanny way. Humbert Humbert makes this connection. From the moment he meets Dolores when he goes to the Haze household, he immediately falls in love with her and cannot help but feel that she is Annabel reincarnated, “It was the same child-- the same frail, honey-hued shoulders, the same silky supple bare back, the same chestnut head of hair. A polka-dotted black kerchief tied around her chest hid from my aging ape eyes, but not from the gaze of my young memory, the juvenile breasts I had fondled one immortal day.” (39) He flashes back to that last day he had with Annabel, the last attempt they made at making love on the beach, “ I saw again her lovely indrawn abdomen where my southbound mouth had briefly paused; and those puerile hops on which I had kissed the crenulated imprint left by the band of her shorts-- that last mad immortal day behind the “Roches Roses.” The twenty-five years I have lived since then tapered to a palpitating point, and vanished.” (39)
Humbert Humbert actually speaks of this day in the beginning of the novel, “But that mimosa grove—the haze of stars, the tingle, the flame, the honey-dew, and the ache remained with me, and that little girl with her seaside limbs and ardent tongue haunted me ever since-- until at last, twenty-four years later, I broke her spell by incarnating her in another.” (15) Here, Humbert Humbert clearly expresses his thoughts of Annabel being resurrected in Dolores.
It is plain to see that Humbert Humbert makes the readers believe that Annabel and Dolores are directly connected to one another. He shows the audience that they are similar in appearance (however they may only look similar to Humbert Humbert because he wants them to). Despite similarities in appearance, the audience can see other similarities between the two nymphets. For example, Annabel had experimented with sex. She and Humbert Humbert had felt as though it was something exciting, new, curious. Dolores approaches sex in the same way, and Humbert Humbert realizes this during the first time he and Dolores has sex together. Dolores' attitude toward sex is even revealed in her accounts at camp, and how she became curious on the matter, “At first, Lo had refused to try what it was like, but curiosity and camaraderie prevailed.” (137)
Despite Humbert Humbert's thought of Dolores being Annabel reincarnated, he does acknowledge that they are quite different, “I should have understood that Lolita had already proved to be something quite different from innocent Annabel...” (124) Though he sees that they are different, he still cannot help but think of Dolores as Annabel. He is trapped in his childhood memories and is determined to return to that last day with Annabel. At one point he even tries to relive his experience with Annabel on the beach, this time with his Lolita in the beginning of Chapter 3, Part II. However, he fails, just like he did with Annabel so long ago. He refers to Dolores Haze as Annabel Haze, but he still cannot bring Annabel back.
Also, there might be an interesting point to be made here. As Humbert Humbert's and Dolores' relationship continue, Humbert Humbert notices that Dolores is becoming less and less like a nymphet. However, he realizes that he still loves her deeply. Perhaps this is because when he was in love with Annabel, he did not consider her a nymphet, “Annabel was no nymphet to me; I was her equal...” (17) When he sees her after a few years, she has lost all of her nymphetic characteristics. She is even pregnant with another man's child. However, he still loves her and does not doubt it, “You see, I loved her. It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.” (270)
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