Blackwell's
points are definitely good. I would only say that, at first, Humbert
had planned to use his confession as a defense at his trial, and later,
as he came to realize it would make him look even worse--maybe seeing
it in hard print made him finally see something about himself--he
decided it would have to remain a secret confession. Humbert's voice is
so bizzare and hyperbolic it's hard to gauge exactly what he really
feels beyond his sexual obsession. Much of the account reads, until the
end, like someone who responds to accusations, "I know I'm horrible
rotten person...but the other person's not all that great either, and
besides I'm a lot smarter and deeper. If I weren't then how would I be
sensitive enough to realize how awful what I did was, and which I still
would have done in any case." Or words to that effect.