After talking to a priest and coming to terms with his sins which he committed with Lolita, Humbert realizes that because he was so consumed with his desires for Lolita, he never took the time to actually get to know the real person she was. After doing a lot of thinking he revisits the house in which he met Lolita and notes that there is another family with a nymphet daughter currently living there. During his visit to Ramsdale he also goes to the dentist and learns of Clare Quilty's whereabouts. Humbert immediately leaves the dentist office to go find Quilty.
Humbert arrives at Quilty's house with a loaded gun. Humbert enters his house and sees Quilty emerge fromt the bathroom. Immediately after seeing him Humbert asks Quilty of Lolita and explains to him why he must die. During this time Quilty slyly makes a move for Humbert's gun and the two wrestle for it. Humbert finally breaks free with the gun and Quilty begs for his life and even offers Humbert bribes of things including vulgar pictures. Humbert shoots Quilty but he still tries to escape. Humbert shoots Quilty a number of times again and he still has not yet died. Finally Quilty pleads for his life but Humbert shows no mercy and shoots him dead.
After an exiting series of events Humbert speeds off down the road on the wrong side. He finally gets pulled over and arrested for running a red light. During his time in jail Humbert realizes that what is truely sad is not that Humbert and Lolita cant be together, rather that he robbed Lolita of her childhood. While in jail Humbert keeps a journal and he dedicates the last half solely to Lolita. He tells her to stay faithful and honest to her husband and to forget about Quilty because he was not a good person. He also advises her to not talk to strangers.
I felt as though this was a very good ending to the book. Although I am not in favor of Humbert killing Quilty, the person Humbert becomes at the end of the book pleases me. After stepping back and actually looking at his relationship with Lolita it is good to know that he recognizes how inappropriate his strong desires and obsessions were. It is very good that he recognizes and is ashamed that he robbed her of her childhood as well. When looking at the person Humbert was at the beginning of the book he was a vulgar man who seemed to want nothing more in life other than sex and Lolita. It seems as though he had no respect for women at the beginning but now it seems as though he has acquired respect for them because he continues to stay in touch with Rita and deeply regrets having such a negative effect on Lolita's life. Despite the creepiness of the book in the beginning it proved to be a very interesting and entertaining book which left me with a smile on my face because of the good man Humbert became.
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