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Part 2, Chapter 21
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Time, Happiness, and Eternal Return
Lightness, Weight, and Dichotomies
Sex, Love, and Duality of Body and Soul
Words and Language
Power, Politics, and Inequality
Summary
Analysis
Tereza’s camera was both an eye for her to see Tomas’s mistress through and a way for Tereza to hide her face from Sabina. After a while, Sabina took the camera and ordered Tereza to “Strip!” It was the same command that Tomas issued, “firmly and authoritatively,” to both Tereza and Sabina whenever he had sex with either one of them, and they both recognized this. Tereza took off her clothes, and Sabina only snapped a few pictures before breaking into laughter. Tereza laughed too, and then they both got dressed.
Tomas’s command to “Strip!” is another example of his power over the women. When he has sex with them, he doesn’t ask them to take their clothes off; rather, he demands it in a “firm” and “authoritative” way. Both Tereza and Sabina are uncomfortable, and their nervous laughter and the fact that Tereza hides behind the camera are proof of this.
Themes
