Giving Lolita a Voice : A feminist reading of Lolita and My Dark Vanessa

Abstract: This study examines patriarchal ideology and traditional gender roles in Vladmir Nabokov’s Lolita and Elizabeth Russell’s My Dark Vanessa. Using feminist literary criticism, the essay investigates in what waysthe ways in which the female characters, Dolores, and Vanessa, are affected by the patriarchal assumptions and patterns that the male characters promote. The study also analyzes how the female characters are objectified and looked at through and internalize the concepts of the “Male Gaze”. It is evident that How the female characters embody patriarchal ideology in language and actions can be found in both novels. Lastly, it is stated that the male characters use the Male Gaze to objectify women repeatedly. Finally, My Dark Vanessa and Lolita has been investigated side by side, which has contributed to a comparison of tVanessa and Dolores are harmed both physically and psychologically by the patriarchal beliefs of their abusers, even as various narrative techniques show how they struggle to break free.