The Unbearable lightness of being- lightness and weight

Lightness and weight summary

• Explanation of the term lightness and weight
• Introduced to Tomas and Tereza
• Tomas' background
• Tomas' infidelities
• Tereza's dreams
• linguistics of compassion
• Karenin
• The Prague Spring
• Zurich
• muss es sein?

Themes

• philosophy
• fidelity vs infidelity
• lightness vs weight
• how do you define what is positive and what is negative?
• Dreams
• isolation
• shame vs guilt
• love

Characters

Tomas

• doctor, divorced
• associates lightness with positive
• sleeping and sex are opposites

Tereza

• Dependant
• Afraid of women
• threatened
• associates weight with positive

Motifs

• aesthetics
• culture
• politics
• animals

Place

There are two main settings in this section. Prague and Zurich. However, these places are only significant in so far as they relate to the events of the prague spring. In both cities Tomas and Tereza live in a small flat bare of all but the necesities of life. For Tereza and Tomas Prague symbolises weight and Zurich lightness therefore they are pulled to opposite cities. It is only love that keeps them together and ultimately in Prague for Tereza's peace of mind.

Narrative Voice

The narrative voice is the voice of the author. The reader is very aware of the fact that the author has created these characters from his experiences and this point is emphasised at points within the novel. At times Kundera focuses on different characters and aspects at a time and in lightness and weight he most certainly focuses on Tomas.

Quotes

'i have been thinking about Tomas for many years' pg5

'she seemed a child to him, a child someone has put in a blurush basket daubed with pitch and sent downstream ...' pg6

'If polybus hadn't taken in the young oedipus, sophocoles wouldn;t have written his most beautiful tragedy.' pg10

'making love with a woman and sleeping with a woman are two seperate passions, not merely different but opposite.' pg 14

'All women were potential mistresses for Tomas and she feared them all' pg 17

'The realization that he was utterly powerless was like the blow of a sledgehammer, yet it was curiuosly calming as well.' pg 28