What Purpose Does Confused Identity Serve in Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

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Roles of Confused Identities in Books
Development of human beings is not full without their identity. Psychologically, identity occurs to all growing human beings who would want to have some sense of self and personal development. In such development, the roles it plays may be different from what most people may be thinking. How an individual will picture himself or herself may not be the same as how other people will see them. Most people have defined what and how they expect the community to behave towards them. In most cases this is betrayed because of some identity confusion.When they do things differently from what people expect, understanding them becomes difficult. What comes out is some lessons for observes or the people they are interacting with.[Dennis, Rutledge M. "Biculturalism, self-identity and societal transformation." Research in race and ethnic relations 15 (2008): 1-267. Print.]
The roles of confused identities are clear in two books, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and Invisible man by Ralph Ellison. There are several instances when confused identities and people have brought different lessons and views than what was expected. The roles that this confusion plays, twists the fate and direction of the stories. The characters get themselves to different points of which they are tested according to their identity. It comes out that what people are using as tests and gauges are not what the real characters are. Here is an explanation of how the two stories bring out the confused identity and the themes it brings out to readers.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
In summary, the book reveals the love issues between Humbert and Annabel. After the death of the girlfriend, Annabel, he gets into some marriage arrangements with an older woman whose daughter impresses him. After a short time, the marriage fails, he gets into series of other relationships with younger women, who are sexually striking and dynamic. When he settles in America, he gets in love with Lolita. Lolita is the old woman’s daughter to whom he was married and divorced. It is this relationship that leads to several issues while he stays in America. When things get sour between him and Lolita refuses to accept his advances, another man begins to follow their moves. The man is investing on the turmoil that the affair is facing. The intentions are to win Lolita which later happens through kidnapping. He later sets an ambition to pursue the kidnapper and Lolita, giving unclear descriptions about the man whom he believes is behind the act. He succeeds by trapping him in his house and murders him. The murder case ends in jail where other issues arise as he uses the opportunity to his benefits. Several issues of confusion are in the story. Most of them are personality issues, which people confuse for results that do not come as their expectations.[Nabokov, Vladimir V. Lolita. New York: Knopf, 1992. Print.] [Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books. New York: Random House, 2003. Print.]
In the story, confused identity serves roles as explaining how people could not have their self-controls, how they get into other traps and how others get them do what they want. Most people confuse the characters as having specific personalities. When they turn to do what is not expected of them, the situation remains incomprehensible to them. In the end they realize that their judgments about the people are not what they were expecting. Such lessons, as explained, will be to the advantage of those who have been confused for different personalities.
Humbert do not know himself. He identifies himself as a man who has the power to get any woman or lady by his wishes. He has claims that he can get a woman of his desire at any time. He ends up having several women. When he marries he does not do that out of some convincing reasons. These are indications that he has no reasons why people get married, and joyrides on the doings of the majority of people. He is only fulfilling some feelings of infatuation. Later he marries Valeria. According to his thinking, he is convinced that the solution to his desires for women can be solved by marrying. Later development of furious relationship that leads to divorce completes the scene. Still after divorce, he goes on to have other relationships with little girls.[Durham, Meenakshi. The Lolita effect: the media sexualization of young girls and what we can do about it. New York: Outlook Press, 2008. Print.]
Humbert has a false self-identity. He has confused a problem to a disorder. His thinking of ability to have a woman is therefore misused. He gets them all the time he thinks it is necessary. The audience and readers of this book begin to realize the dangers of having such false identities with oneself. People understand the immorality issues that one can get themselves into because of false beliefs. When crises develop, solving them becomes difficult. It is possible to understand how people should deal with their personal disorders that can lead them to lifelong problems. For the case of Humbert, he has confused his identity with the disorder as a tool that he can use for gains. The benefit of this is an understanding of the ability to understand their problems and the best solutions they can use.[Gilbert, Sara D. Get help: solving the problems in your life. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1989. Print.]
Another episode of confusion is about Haze. She is from a different race to Humbert. Racial identity is an issue that most people consider in their interactions in the area, majorly America. Most people do not freely interact with others from a different race. However, Haze and Humbert get into some likeness for each other without considerations of their origin. The society think that Haze has confused the identity of Humbert as being of a similar origin. On the other side, Humbert sees her as a mere housewife. The crises of how to identify another stirs more drama as Humbert changes his mind to believe that he is having a different identity about America and the people. He changes his mind later before he faces the same confused judgment about his identity.[Diaconu, Ion. Racial discrimination. Portland: Den Haag, 2011. Print.] [Schaefer, Richard T. Racial and ethnic groups. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2004. Print.]
Pre-informed judgments that people have about others are not easy to deal with. They already present a wrong picture about an individual. The country of origin and race brought to people the differences in their minds, the beliefs they would use to judge other people. Some have negative beliefs about people from a specific country or race. Some are based on their religious practices. Most people think that people of a specific race behave or are brought up in a specific way. Later, they realize their wrong judgments about other people. At such a moment, they get to learn of different characters and ideas about the people they had judged wrongly first. The change of idea bring to them the need to avoid superstitions. Most people take the general talk of people from some origin and use it either against or for the advantage of the people. Later, accepting the true identity of individual without taking their origin and racial setting becomes difficult.[Anderson, Jude. The art & science of alpaca judging. Nashville: Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, 2011. Print.]
Characters in Lolita have different understanding about others. When other people do what they do not know or see in them daily, they begin to think there are changes of to their identities. Lolita, on her side is seen as a serious woman and may have little time for jokes. Humbert, however comes out to be engaging in games that changes the attitude that Lolita has towards him. Lolita, gets entertained by Humbert as people think of her as an underage or minor. Here, there are a double tragedies in identity. Nobody sees Humbert as proficient of being hilarious to extents that can change minds and attitudes of Lolita. Others do not believe Lolita when she accepts to be in a relationship at such a tender age. They have forgotten the rapid maturity in girls and women that is twinned with their attraction and vulnerability to amusing people. The characters, Humbert and Lolita, utilize these two identities that people have about them as tools to achieve their ambitions. The roles of such identity confusion is to the benefit of the people they are having in mind. They can be fostered towards their gains. Humbert is aware that being charismatic to Lolita comes with the possibility of her changing her mind towards him. The move works on each other’s favor. She accepts to be in the proposed relationship with Humbert. A majority of people may not understand how she manages to get into a relationship with the complicated Humbert. They later learn that she is a strong decision maker and can manage hard situations and people, which is different from the childish analysis that most people had on her.[Anderson, Jude. The art & science of alpaca judging. Nashville: Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, 2011. Print.] [Anderson, Jude. The art & science of alpaca judging. Nashville: Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, 2011. Print]
Institutions are known to be places where people can get their characters changed and transformed. Mostly, they change someone from their bad behaviors to what is good. A prison, like in this book, is a place for correction for prisoners. They should change from their bad deeds and bring out a different person from an individual. Most people are, however, not aware that some inmates would use such establishments to hide their greedy intentions. Humbert louts the rules of the society and escapes from the court. As a correctional center, people have a fixed reasoning that it is a place where criminals will be taken to stay and change their characters. When such does not happen, they begin to doubt the reasons for their establishments. It is a lesson for the society not to set their fixed identification of institutions that characters will have to change. They must know that others have ill intentions of joining such institutions. Humbert is an example who uses it to communicate the wrong information to people about himself. After which the people do not understand the reasons for the existence of a court.[Cosby, Bill, and Alvin Poussaint. Come on, people: on the path from victims to victors. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007. Print.]
Humbert in the book has confused the identity of his rival, Quilty. In a love triangle fiasco, he cannot remember his appearance. After a long time he comes back with dreaded hair which he never had before. Quilty gets into a romantic bond with Lolita, a longtime acquaintance whom she loved at the age of ten. Humbert meets him frequently but does not realize that this is the same man he has been trying to pursue for a long time. In their second trip, after he realizes that someone is following them, he still fails to recognize him. Failure of Humbert to identify the rival keeps the man safe for that time. He had intentions of revenging against the man. He is constantly looking for the man and cannot figure him out even on events when he meets him.
The failure of Humbert to recognize the rival has roles that works to the advantage of Lolita. She is aware of the rivalry for her. She uses this against Humbert and gets back to the first friend. She does not remind Humbert that the man he meets at irregular opportunities is the same person he has been trying to pursue. On an occasion when Humbert calls him Gustave Trapp, she does not react. He misses the opportunity of murdering him. Another role of confused identity that comes out at this moment is betrayal. Lolita does not want to betray the friend by identifying him to Hum...