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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The narrator states in Part 2, Chapter 2, “I dimly evoke that Magnolia Garden in a southern state which cost me four bucks and which, according to the ad in the book, you must visit for three reasons.” The first of these reasons is because what “stone-dead writer of sorts” acclaimed it as the world’s fairest garden?

2. With whom had Lolita spent a rainy summer in a dilapidated Appalachian farmhouse, according to the narrator in Part 2, Chapter 1?

3. H.H. describes visiting the “starting point of the Old Oregon Trail” where in Part 2, Chapter 2?

4. How far does H.H. say he drove to buy books for Lolita while she was hospitalized in Part 2, Chapter 22?

5. Of his poem written about Lolita, H.H. says in Part 2, Chapter 25, “By psychoanalyzing this poem, I notice it is really” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Lolita claim to have been during her absence in Part 2, Chapter 19? How does H.H. respond?

2. What does Lolita’s school friend write to her in Part 2, Chapter 19? What happens as H.H. reads the letter?

3. What does H.H. remark about the poem he has written in Part 2, Chapter 25?

4. Where does H.H. meet the character named Rita in Part 2? How does he describe their relationship?

5. How does H.H. describe his motivations for writing down this information in Part 2, Chapter 2? What does he describe?

6. How does Vladimir Nabokov demonstrate irony in Part 2, Chapter 2?

7. What does H.H. surmise about the play that Lolita is performing in, in Part 2, Chapter 13?

8. How does H.H. effectively manipulate Lolita into secrecy regarding their sexual relationship in Part 2, Chapter 1?

9. How does H.H. describe his and Lolita’s arrival in Beardsley in Part 2, Chapter 4? Why has he come here?

10. How does H.H. go about finding the missing Lolita in Part 2, Chapter 19?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss pedophilia and hebephilia, as well as the different qualities, symptoms, and assessments of each. How does contemporary psychiatry explain these phenomena? How are pedophiles and hebophiles treated for their sexual obsessions with children? Is there such a thing as “recovery” from pedophilia and hebephilia?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the transitions in narrative style and form of address throughout the novel. When and where does H.H. break from a strict narrative style to direct address? Where does he speak of himself in third person? What do these instances indicate?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the psychiatric treatments received by H.H. during his first period in New York. Where is H.H. hospitalized? For how long? What forms of treatment does he receive? How successful is that treatment?

(see the answer keys)

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