Analysis of Section 2 - Soul and Body

Tereza's perspective on her relationship with Tomas complicates the story told in
Part I. Kundera makes Tereza just as sympathetic as Thomas; her heaviness seems noble and beautiful. Unlike Tomas, she takes everything in her life seriously, from sexuality to tiny, significant signs.

Tereza's heaviness of being causes her to suffer horribly; her mother's torments weigh heavily on Tereza, as does Tomas's infidelity. Still, the heaviness also allows Tereza to find meaning and beauty in her life, a benefit of heaviness the narrator posited in the opening of the novel. Tereza imbues coincidences with deep meaning. She believes, therefore, that each choice she makes is predestined. She suffers none of Tomas's indecision; while he agonizes over the multiplicity of choices and paths availabl e, she feels calmly confident that each choice she makes is the only possible one.

This second section of The Unbearable Lightness of Being suggests that perhaps lightness and heaviness are not polar opposites. Tomas and Tereza represent different sides of the dichotomy, but both are capable of feeling the pull of the other side, and hence fall in love. Tomas falls in love with Tereza partly because he wants to feel heaviness. Tereza learns some lightness from Tomas; this lightness causes her to risk her life for her country, and then leave Czechoslovakia abruptly, and to enjoy t he company, friendship and eroticism of her husband's mistress, Sabina.

Kundera associates the body with lightness, and the soul with heaviness. He associates Tereza with the soul—a fitting association, considering her identification as a heavy character. Indeed, the body repulses Tereza, and she tries to live entirely as a soul.

Part 2, in portraying the free Western world, contradicts assumptions that political freedom means automatic happiness for individuals. Politically free Switzerland, where Tomas and Tereza move, does not offer Tereza the communities of dissidents or journalists to which she belonged in Prague. The people she meets in Switzerland treat her badly—the magazine editor tells Tereza Prague's problems are no longer fashionable, for example.

Section 2 - Soul and Body

SECTION TWO EXAMINES PRECISELY THE SAME STORY AS TOLD IN SECTION 1 ONLY FROM TEREZA´S PERSPECTIVE.

1 After arriving at Tomas´s flat for the first time, how does Tereza feel?

2 She believes that the mind and the body are two separate entities. What are her opinions of her body?

3 Tereza looks like her mother, what do we learn about her Mother´s life. (include who she married, etc.)

4 During Tereza´s childhood, how does her Mother behave towards her?


5 How does her Mother combat the reality of her faded beauty?

6 What does Tereza use as a method of escapism?

7 What music does she hear that gives her comfort?

8 Describe the coincidences that occur on the day that Tomas and Tereza meet.

9 The second time Tereza visits Tomas, she arrives with her heavy suitcase and Anna Karenina, hoping to enter Tomas's world. What do you think Tomas is to her at this point in the novel?

10 When she and Tomas make love, she screams and keeps her eyes fixed on the ceiling. Her scream is "aimed at crippling the senses"; she screams in an attempt to make sex about the spirit, rather than the body. What does she think about her body?

11 In Prague, Tereza's natural intelligence and self-education help her learn photography. She moves from darkroom assistant to staff photographer with Sabina's help. How do her and Sabina celebrate her success?

12 What is Tomas´s reaction to this event? How does he feel?

13 Tomas does not differentiate between Tereza's body and the bodies of other women. How does this make Tereza feel?

14 What reasons may Tereza have for returning to her mother?

15 Thinking constantly of Tomas's affairs, Tereza decides to try and make other women's bodies something she and Tomas share, rather than something that divides them. Describe how she does this.

The Good, The Bad and The Queen

Quiz 1

For each of these questions, answer in full and include a quote.

1 Where did Tomas meet Teresa?

2 What happened 10 days later?

3 How did Tomas feel about Tereza?

4 What happened to Tereza while she was visiting Tomas?

5 What does Tomas decide to do?

6 What does Tereza lie about?

7 What does she really do?

8 What do we learn about Tomas` past?

9 Tomas believes ...`wer live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold`. What does this tell us about Tomas` ideologies on life and also relate this back to concepts of life in chapter 1.

10 How does Tereza break Tomas` rules?

11 What two thing does Tomas believe are separate enterties?

12 What does Tomas compare Tereza to?

13 Who finds Tereza a job?

14 What does Tereza dream that she must do?

15 What does Tereza read?

16 How does she react to the written material?

17 How does Tomas feel when he sees Tereza with a male friend?

18 How does Tomas` infidelity affect their relationship?

19 Why do you think they marry?

20 What is politically happening in Prague?

21 Where is Tomas offered a job and why does he chose not to accept it?

22 At this point, what is Tereza working as?

23 Why does Tereza decide to leave?

24 How does Beethoven relate to Tomas` thinking?

25 What does Tomas feel brought him together with Tereza?

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE EDRON

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