Humanity In Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness Of Being

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Milan Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, written in 1984, is a story of two women, two men, a dog and their lives during the Prague Spring of Czechoslovak history in 1968 through an omnipotent narrator. However, the relationship between the two main protagonists, Tomas, a brilliant Prague surgeon and intellectual who has a tendency to womanize, and Tereza, a kind but deeply troubled photographer and former waitress as well as Tomas’ young wife, is often observed through the perspective of the characters themselves. This relationship is a strained one due to their opposing views on the topics of love, sex, and being. Their perspectives also differ when it comes to the concept of fate. This is because the novel itself is a response …show more content…

He believed that he should be in charge of his own life, and that all consequences of his decisions are his responsibility. Naturally, one of the reasons Tomas’ relationship with Tereza was uneasy is related to his rejection of fatalism. Tomas met the woman he fell in love with and eventually married on a chance encounter while he was on business trip to cure a sick doctor. The coincidence of Tomas’ room number being ‘six’ corresponding to the time Tereza gets off work is something Tomas refuses to believe is fate. Tomas reflects: “His unconscious was so cowardly that the best partner it could choose for its little comedy was this miserable provincial waitress with practically no chance at all to enter his life!” [1.4.7]. The exclamation point at the end of the sentence provides an inkling to the reader as to how much the element of ‘chance’ disturbs Tomas. In fact, the use of the word ‘chance’ is an acknowledgement of the concept that terrifies him most: eternal return. Here, Kundera uses Tomas as a mirror of sorts, reflecting the crushing sensation that any individual might feel if they were to be told that their lives have been and always will be repeated on a loop with no opportunity to change or even determine the

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