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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
Sabina receives many letters from Simon, but she doesn’t read them, as she ignores most things from Czechoslovakia. The elderly man she was living with has died, so Sabina moves to California. She makes a good living selling her art, and she likes America well enough, but she only likes the surface of it. Deep down, America is alien to her, and she begins to fear being buried in the earth. Sabina immediately draws up a will, and stipulates that upon her death, she wishes to be cremated and scattered in the wind.
Sabina’s attempts to ignore all things associated with Czechoslovakia is, in a way, its own kind of kitsch. To Sabina, Czechoslovakia is the metaphorical shit that she pretends doesn’t exist because it isn’t compatible with her life. Sabina endeavors to be light under all circumstances, even in death, as she would rather be scattered in the wind—a light end—than be buried under the weight of the earth.
Themes
