Humbert Humbert's father, his "mon cher petit papa, took me out boating and biking, taught me to swim and drive and water-ski, read to me Don Quixote and Les Misérables, and I adored and respected him and felt glad for him whenever I overheard the servants discuss his various lady-friends, beautiful and kind beings who made much of me and cooed and shed precious tears over my cheerful motherlessness" (10-11). The father, apparently, played an active role in his son's childhood, was a good father; spent time with his son, bonded with him, as one would hope for a single father. The books he read to Humbert were romantic, adventurous stories of love, and good chivalric, principled love at that; that being said, both romances are idealized and unreal. Additionally, the "various lady-friends," while ambiguously stated, suggests that the father did not have the same sort of dedication to one lover like either the Don or Marius. This fact might have influenced Humbert's love life, insofar as his own relationships with women (mature, or of a certain, socially acceptable age) never mature in their own right. Humbert's "cheerful motherlessness" is a rather odd expression– it could be, that sense his mother died when he was so young, combined with the strong presence and camaraderie showed by his father, Humbert did not grieve heavily for the loss. At the same time, however, it is somewhat bewildering to imagine that his lacking a mother resulted in cheerfulness– perhaps this almost oxymoronic dynamic is evidence for Humbert's perversion, for lack of a better word.
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