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Part 2, Chapter 6
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 mother was not modest in the least. She talked publically about sex and even removed her dentures in front of others. When Tereza’s mother had been young and beautiful, she guarded her body, but she felt she had little need to do so in old age. Tereza is a continuation of her mother, the narrator says, because her mother’s behavior has left “an indelible imprint on her.”
The “indelible imprint” left on Tereza by her mother is again an example of eternal return. While Kundera argues that life only occurs once, he does suggest that it repeats in other ways, such as Tereza’s similarities to her mother. This moment hints at how even in a linear life without eternal return, some cyclical aspects do remain.
Themes
