- Tereza's background
- Tereza's mother
- Tereza's soul
- How Tereza and Tomas met
- The scream and the hand in the night
- Analysis of Tereza's dream
- Vertigo
- Sabina and Tereza bonding in the studio
- Photographs
- Swiss life for Tereza
- Back to Prague
Themes
- body and soul
- vanity
- soul reflected through the face
- sacrifice and guilt
- chance encounters
- music
- dreams
- vertigo
- helplessness and control
- art and photography
- nudity vs modesty
- liberty vs repression
- dependance
- responsibility and duty
Motifs
- swimming pool dream
- nudity
- books
- anna karenina
- music- beethoven
- camera
- 6
- mirror
- youth and beauty
- blame and shame
- suitcase
Characters
Tereza
Her character is developed in this section and we understand her much better. Looking at her mother and how Tereza is so ashamed of her past allows us to see how she can become so dependant on Tomas. The reader is led realise that Tereza has the ability to be afraid of anything as her emotional state is so delicate and she has the tendancy to be paranoid.
Tomas
His character is not deveolped particularly in this section. The idea of Tomas' control is emphasised however, particularly with his order of 'strip'.
Sabina
Sabina is developed in this section most strongly as in this section she becomes a much fuller character rather than simply Tomas' mistress. She is developed through her artwork ; as she explains her paintings the reader gets the impresson of how unconventional and independant she wishes to be.
Place
As in lightness and weight the two main settings are Prague and Zurich. The only difference that comes with Tereza's viewpoint is how she sees the two places. At the end of the section she expresses how Prague seems to her to be a 'camp of the weak' and she relates with this and returns to Prague. Zurich, to Tereza unlike Tomas, is very much a foreign place where she is dependant for every part of her life. Prague=control Zurich=dependance
Narrative Voice
As before there are definite moments where the author reminds us hat he is but telling a story with fictional characters. He still continues to break with the narrative to explore philosophy and also to bring movements in time. The frequent lacunae give a fast paced feel. Curiously i do not find the book jumpy but i can't quite put my finger on why yet...
Quotes
'Tereza was born of the rumblings of a stomach' pg37
'irreconcilable duality of the body and the soul' pg37
'she thought she saw her soul shining through the features of her face.'
'her soul would rise to the surface of her body like a crew charging up from the bowels of a ship, spreading out at the deck, and singing in jubilation.' pg 39
'being a mother meant sacrficing everything'pg 41
'Her behaviour was but a single grand gesture, the casting off of youth and beauty' pg 43
'books were the emblem of the secret brotherhood' pg45
'there she stood before sabina naked and disarmed.' 62
'a carnival of hate filled with a curious (and no longer explicable) euphoria' pg 64
'camp of the weak' 69
'she was like her country, which stuttered , gasped for breath, could not speak.' pg 71
'heay suitcase above her head' 72
'it was a sense of beauty that cured her of her depression and imbued her with a new will to live.' 74
