And to Humbert, Lolita was a reincarnation of Annabel. Humbert says "I see Annabel in such general terms as: 'honey-coloured skin', 'thin arms', 'brown bobbed hair', 'long lashes', 'big bright mouth.'" There is a relationship between HumbertHumbert's desire for nymphets and his artistic gifts. The common link is obsession, which Lolita suggests is the connector between sexual perversion and artistic talent. HumbertHumbert's passion for Lolita is not only perverse, but also physically and intellectually obsessive. He is not satisfied with merely molesting Lolita as more ordinary paedophiles might be. These things, to him, fall short of his ultimate goal, which is to "fix once for all the perilous magic of nymphets." HumbertHumbert literally wants to know Lolita "inside out" and he lavishes his attention physically and with his mind, on every minute detail of her body and manner. This physical obsession with Lolita is microscopic. He takes pleasure in licking a speck from her eye, feeling the tiny downy hairs on her legs, and even in noticing the shine of her hair. His precise physical obsession is corresponding to his equally precise artistic obsession, which is to immortalize Lolita in writing. As a paedophile and as an artist, Humbert is obsessed with small details. .
The second theme that is continuous throughout the story is imprisonment. Humbert is literally a prisoner. He writes the book from prison. However, it seems like Lolita is the most obvious prisoner in the book. She is taken away from her life by Humbert and is forced to live with him. He manipulates her and does not let her out of his sight. Part one ends with a chilling exposition of Lolita's situation "In the middle of the night she came sobbing into my room, and we made it up vert gently. You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go" This is the climax of Humbert's possession of Lolita as she has no other option but him, which can be revealed that this begins her imprisonment.
