Lolita: Part 2, Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

Humbert Humbert and Lolita travel farther west. A red Aztec Convertible begins following them on the highway, and Humbert worries it might be a police detective. The man in the car reminds him of his uncle, Gustave Trapp. He begins having what he thinks are hallucinations: one night at a motel, he finds himself naked and standing outside, with a masked man looking at him. He never determines definitively whether or not this was real. During a stop at a gas station, he catches Lolita speaking to an older man: the driver of the car. He begins to suspect the occupant of the red convertible isn’t a detective, but someone whom Lolita knows.

Humbert Humbert is alarmed by Lolita’s good mood and teasing attitude about their pursuer. Humbert is eventually able to shake off the red Aztec, but he becomes suspicious again after taking Lolita to see a play in Wace, Nebraska. The play is by Vivian Darkbloom and Clare Quilty. As they stand up to leave, Humbert becomes concerned: Lolita is beaming at the stage, where the writers are making an appearance. He asks her about Quilty, whose poster she had in her room as a child, but she deflects him by asking if he means the Ramsdale dentist with the same name.