Wednesday, August 3, 2011
_The Unbearable Lightness of Being_Day Three: Words Misunderstood
Please post a question about "Words Misunderstood," Book 3, which divides its sympathies between Franz, Sabina and the narrator. Make sure to keep up your motif log for group discussion. Tomorrow you'll meet with your group members to share your individual findings.
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If compiling "A Short Dictionary of Mistunderstood Words" (89) for Tomas and Tereza, what terms would you include and what would be their differing definitions?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think is Tomas' definition of the words in Franz/Sabina's Dictionary of Misunderstood Words?
How does Tereza as an artist parallel with Sabina as a painter? (Look on page 102, the first paragraph). What is the significance of "beauty by mistake?"
ReplyDeleteBook three starts with "Geneva is a city of fountains large and small, or parks where music once rang out..." (81) immediately bringing the reader to silence. What is the significance in the presentation of music and silence? Does it relate to weight and lightness? Does it relate to time?
ReplyDeleteKundera describes how Tomas is born of the saying "Einmal ist keinmal" and Tereza is born of the rumbling of a stomach (p39). In chapter 3, we see that Franz is often said to live a life with Marie-Claude (as if he is married to her since birth). What is Kundera trying to say about birth?
ReplyDeleteHow is the bowler hat an example of Kundera's statement that existential codes have different meaning for different characters?
ReplyDeleteSabina expresses her individuality and creativity through art, so in a sense, she is inputting meaning into her life (hence she becomes heavy). However, Sabina is also like Tomas (at least before Tomas met Tereza), for she also seeks the bodily pleasure instead of real love (lightness). Do you think that Sabina's paradoxical ways of life manifest any struggle between lightness and heaviness? Also, are there any other such contradictory thoughts/actions from Sabina?
ReplyDeleteHow does each characters' "existential code" not only relate to us as readers but to the narrator as well?
ReplyDeleteTereza dreams of women marching and singing, and Sabina actually is forced to march and sing in the Communist Youth League. What does this similarity (or probably difference) suggest about the identities of Tereza and Sabina?
ReplyDeleteGrace
On page 104, a sculptor makes a brief comment on driving and accidents. On page 122, Sabina learns that Tomas and Tereza have died in a car accident.
ReplyDeleteWhat might the significance of this connection?
What is the significance of music to Franz? To Sabina? How do their musical tastes compare to those of Tomas and Tereza?
ReplyDeleteMusic and composition are metaphors employed by the narrator. How is this metaphor expanded in part 3? How does Franz's love of music change our perception of this metaphor?
ReplyDeleteFranz says that he values fidelity because of the love he had for his mother, whereas Tomas is unfaithful, and doesn't maintain ties with his own mother. What might this difference suggest about the nature of fidelity, and possibly the difference between light and weight? See the top of p. 91
ReplyDelete