1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Lightness an
d Weight
emma
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera

2. Lightness and Weight -The state or quality of being light in weight
-the quality of being nimble, agile, or graceful
-Weight
-the amount or quantity of heaviness or mass
-any heavy load, mass, or object
sarah

3. Lightness and Weight Lightness
-lack of seriousness, levity in actions, thoughts, or speech
-gaiety of manner, speech, style, etc.
Weight
-a mental or moral burden, as of care, sorrow, or responsibility
-importance, moment, consequence, or effective influence
sarah

4. What do Lightness and Weight mean to Tereza?
-A character with more emotional ‘baggage
-The Suitcase
“the enormously heavy suitcase stood by the bed.” (Kundera 10)
-A thinker, analytical, delves deep into the situation
-Wants connections, strong bonds
emma

5. Tereza
Tereza continually has to be ‘picked up’ by Tomas – could her weakness and vulnerability be seen as lightness?
-Cannot stand up to her own thoughts – her mother’s influence is weight. “If a mother was Sacrifice personified, then a daughter was guilt, with no possibility of redress.” (Kundera 44)
emma

6. Tereza -Believes the soul carries more weight than the body
“Hoping to alleviate the pain in her heart by the pain in her chest, she jabbed needles under her fingernails.” (Kundera 16)
-Moment of recklessness, lightness, during the Prague Spring
“Once, when she went too far and took a close-up of an officer pointing his revolver at a group of people, she was arrested…” (Kundera 25)
emma

7. -Lighter in personality than Tereza, more carefree, loose, relationships. “…he could leave whenever he pleased.” (Kundera 13)
-Compartmentalizes, view sex and love as different entities
“Love does not make itself in the desire for copulation…but in the desire of shared sleep.” (Kundera, 15)
-Appears rather to act impulsively, and not think through situations first
-Lives in the moment
-Lightness/Weakness? “He lacked the strength to control his taste for other women.” (Kundera 21)
emma
Lightness: Tomas?

8. -Is constantly drawn to Tereza “Because compassion was Tomas’s fate (or course)…” (Kundera 21)
-Feels her as a burden, but needs that deep connection to remain ‘grounded’
-Believes the body carries more weight than the soul
“He realized that Tereza’s body was perfectly thinkable coupled with any male body…” (Kundera 17)
Tomas
emma

9. Tomas -The Unbearable Lightness of Being
-His actions have weighty consequences for others around him, Tereza cannot cope with his lightness
“But her jealously thus tamed by day burst forth all the more savagely in her dreams…” (Kundera 18)
emma
Tomas

10. Kundera Born April 1, 1929, in Brno, Bohemia
Joined communist party in 1948, expelled in 1950
Studied musicology at Charles University in Prague
Assistant and later professor at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts
sarah

11. Milan Kundera -Leading figure in Prague Spring 1968 – books banned.
-Wrote poems, essays, and stage plays
-Leading figure in Prague Spring 1968 – books banned.
-Books are weight – his message is left behind for others
-Work: totalitarianism and the similarity between that and private/public life converging
sarah

12. -Wrote novels, essays, poetry, stage plays, even music – eternal, lasts forever, even when the body does not
Milan Kundera
-Music – light and heavy feelings, tones
- “Beethoven apparently viewed weight as something positive….only what is heavy has value.” (Kundera 33)
sarah

13. Lightness and Weight for Kundera
Communism-Weight of belief?
Prague Spring: Oppression: Weight
sarah
“Es muss sein” (Kundera 35) – Lightness or Weight? FATE

14. What does lightness and Weight mean to me?
emma

15. Lightness and Weight
emma

16. About Me: Lightness and Weight
emma

17. What lightness and Weight mean to me
Lightness= joy, assurance
Joy from faith, from knowing God
Weight=sin, burdens, sadness
Lifted by God’s promise by the gift of His Son
sarah
What lightness and Weight mean to me

18. Lightness and Weight: Milan Kundera and Me
TULOB: our lives are small in the grand scheme of things
Existence loses substance .
For me: Perhaps, but we are not meant to be eternally on this earth, nor are we perfect
Things happen for a reason/purpose
sarah

19. Lightness and Weight for Me
Being=freedom
True, we can’t go back to fix our mistakes
Things aren’t always viewed the right way because of their fleeting nature
Lightness from walking with God
sarah

20. Conclusion
Images: All from