Loalita

Essay by ram2343College, UndergraduateB-, November 2014

download word file, 4 pages 0.0

Topic 1: Use the material in Unit 4: Pornography to argue:

Whether Lolita should be labeled as pornography, and

Whether or not the book should be censored (why or why not) and to what extent.

The Controversial Pornographic Dilemmas in Lolita

Ramzi Nassereddine

EAC492, F14

October 20, 2014

Anthony Dayton

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul…" (Nabokov, 9)

Written in the 1950s, Nabokov's book Lolita is one of immense controversy still to this date. Breaking conservative tradition, this epic verbose piece is written in an extremely pictorial manner. As such, this aspect of the book further infuriates the masses as the detailed accounts of an incestuous relationship between the stepfather and his twelve year old daughter are discussed. This increasingly begs the question as to whether or not the book should be labeled as pornography; and if so to what extent it should be censored, if any.

These concerns as well as a general discussion on morality and the human condition are vital as regards to Lolita, pornography and its controversial nature.

Pornography is sexually explicit material (verbal or pictorial) that is primarily designed to produce sexual arousal in viewers (Dayton, 4, 9). In discussing whether Lolita (Dolores) should be considered pornography and to what extent it should be censored due to its descriptive nature an analysis of whether or not pornography itself is moral needs addressing. Pornographic material for compensation and consumption by consenting adults is moral on the grounds that it is beneficial to one's personal sex life. Moreover, as an industry, the argument that pro-pornography feminists bring up is that there is no moral harm that women encounter and that they are autonomous agents who are rejecting previous standards of patriarchy. While anti-pornography feminists may dissent this view both...