Abstract
This paper explains that Mike Kundera's characters in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" are subjected to the two major influences of the historical context of the novel and the existentialist philosophy as expressed especially by Heidegger in his "Being and Time". The author points out that the technique used in the book by the narrator to describe the mental states of his characters follows a precise format. The paper also describes each of the four major characters and to what degree they reflect the lightness of being.

Outline:
Characters Exponents of the Author's Real Life Experience
Historical Context
Communist Czechoslovakia
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Philosophical Theme; Existentialism
Character: Tomas
Free Individual
Character: Tereza
Opposite of Her Husband: Highly Idealistic
Character: Sabina
Highly Individualistic and Independent, Rebellious And Unconventional
Character: Franz
Very Passionate; Believes In Love and Politics
The Four Characters Reconstruct Milan Kundera's Life Experience
The Characters Choose Exile over Communism

From the Paper
"Sabina is Tomas' lover, an artist who rebels against the ugliness of the surrounding world, and her oppressive father through her paintings and lifestyle choices. She is the extreme instance of the lightness of being. In fact, her love affair with Tomas is based upon this very lightness of being that they share. Their affair has nothing in common with a traditional romance as they are not traditional characters. Nevertheless, she looks for heaviness, which is why she falls in love with Franz, a university professor and at the same time, the extreme instance of heaviness."

Tags:existentialist narrator individuality, soviet tyranny, hopelessness

From the Paper
"Milan Kundera, in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, offers a philosophy of love and sex which appears to be very pessimistic, but at the same time offers a shred of hope that some measure of happiness, or at least acceptance, can be won in a world in which there is no longer any unassailable truth or faith holding the individual to life. This is the meaning of the title. Without any of the religious, psychological, philosophical, political or romantic beliefs of the past to cling to, the individual must suffer "the unbearable lightness of being." He or she must look for love in a world which seems to be created precisely to keep human beings from finding the love they so desperately seek. It is not a surprise, then, to find that the physical act of sex is generally shown to be an exciting, if temporary, substitute for true love and intimacy. It is also not..."

Abstract
This paper discusses Milan Kundera's book, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." It describes Kundera's characters and their relationship to how he perceived life in Soviet Czechoslovakia at the time as well as the book's core issue of existentialism and the techniques used by the narrator. In addition, the paper discusses the plot of the book and how the characters relate to it.

From the Paper
"Franz is a university professor who teaches philosophy and falls in love with Sabina, his exact opposite. Franz is a heavy character who looks for meaning in life and lives for strong emotions generated either by love or by politics. He is a combination of idealism, naivete and the inability to understand his surroundings. Unlike Tomas, he does not change; he is not a dynamic character. Only at the end of his life is he able to wonder about his choices and question his decisions. He goes to Vietnam and becomes a political activist, upholding ideals of freedom, justice and truth, thinking that Sabina would be proud of him and his mission. He is sadly mistaken, and dies a meaningless death, killed during a mugging."

Tags:communism, tyranny, despair

Abstract
This paper argues that Plato's theory on the dualism of the soul and body is applicable to all of the four major characters in Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". Specifically, this paper examines how the connection between the two substances takes place in the case of each character, and to what extent they are marked by this interaction.

From the Paper
"The theory of the dualism of the soul and body was tackled by ancient philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In the case of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, all of the four main characters exhibit this dichotomy. However, it is Tereza who best represents Plato's theory. In her case this dualistic approach is synonymous to a split between the two parts that make up her individuality. Kundera refers to his characters being "born of a stimulating phrase or two or from a basic situation. Tereza was born of the rumbling of a stomach." (Kundera: 39). As far this duality in the case of his characters, Kundera argues that "the old duality of body and soul has become shrouded in scientific terminology, and we can laugh at it as merely an obsolete prejudice." (Kundera: 40)"

Tags:Tereza, Tomas, Sabina, Franz

Abstract
This paper discusses the characters in the book "Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera and how Tomas's indecisive personality leads his political decisions while Sabina has a decisive personality. The author looks at how these differences account for the different roles the characters play in the Czech revolution.

From the Paper
"Kundera's most famous is said to be a complex book, which is set against the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. The story revolves around three different characters. The man torn between thought and emotion, love and lust, the woman who lives for rebellion and another woman whose body act as the amplifier for her emotions. The male protagonist is Tomas who falls in love with Teresa and they both get married. Even after marrying her he keeps on having affairs in order to give weight and meaning to his life. With that he also maintains a love- affair with Sabina."

Tags:political activism, Czechoslavakia, revolution, character analysis milan kundera tomas sabina

Abstract
This paper discusses the issues of diaspora and exile in Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The paper analyzes the response of various characters to the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The paper focuses on the theme of individual privacy and surveillance techniques to identify dissidents.

From the Paper
"Milan Kundera's novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is focused on the response of various characters to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. It emphasizes a totalitarian regime's invasion not only of a country but of individual privacy. A central theme in the text, identified by literary critic Kamila Kinyon, is that of the gaze or the panopticon, the totalitarian agents of the Soviets who use the gaze or surveillance techniques to identify dissidents and to instill fear into the..."

Tags:Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, diaspora, exile, Czechoslovakia, Soviet

Abstract
This paper compares the coming of age within three works - "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera and the film "Sugar Cane Alley," written and directed by Euzhan Palcy. It analyzes the political and social structure in each of these works and describes how they affect the relationships between the younger and older characters.

From the Paper
"The shifts in lightness and heaviness in this novel are complex and at times difficult to understand, and the political element that is seen here is also more complex and in some ways more specific than what is seen in The Kite Runner or Sugar Cane Alley. In this novel, the events of what is known as the Prague Spring serve as backdrop, a time when the Soviet military occupied the city and made it known that the people of Poland were not in control of their own destinies. Tomas had once condemned the Communists and so is asked to leave the city, and he and Tereza travel to Switzerland. When they later return to Prague, it is with the knowledge that they will never be allowed to leave again."

Tags:generation, experience, friendship

Abstract
The actions of Prospero in relation to his two servants, Ariel and Caliban, very much contradict his motivations and goals throughout the play, "The Tempest," by William Shakespeare. The paper shows that, while Prospero is trying to fight injustice and restore his own life, he is, in a sense, stealing the power and lives of his servants.

From the Paper
"In Shakespeare's The Tempest, one of the main characters in the play, Prospero, has been exiled to an island. While living there he encounters two inhabitants of the island and makes them his servants. Caliban, one of Prospero's servants, has lived his whole life on the island after being left there by sailors with his mother, Sycorax. The other servant is Ariel, a mischievous spirit who Prospero found trapped in tree by a spell cast many years ago by Sycorax. The relationships between Prospero and his two servants are very different, although he maintains his control over both of them through his use of words. Prospero promises Ariel his freedom after he is done serving Prospero's desires, but Caliban is treated very differently. He is looked down upon and treated cruelly with no promise of ever being free. Unlike Ariel, Caliban is not content to serve Prospero and attempts to remove him of his power in order to restore his own life and rule over the island, but in his attempt to do so he offers to become a servant of Stephano. Throughout the play Prospero is attempting to fight the injustice of losing his power as Duke of Milan, but the way he treats his servants and steals their power is unjust."

Tags:stephano, Duke, of, Milan

Abstract
This paper explains that "A Farewell to Arms", a novel of war and love, consists of two parts. The part before his surgery and convalescence at Milan, including Frederic Henry's wounding, and the part after he returns to the front. The author points out that Hemingway uses rain as a good or bad portent in almost every part of the novel, and it serves as a metaphor on numerous occasions. The paper relates that Hemingway was an alcoholic, and alcoholism plays an important role in "Farewell to Arms", thus showing a slice of Ernest Hemingway's life.

From the Paper
"Catherine Barkley, in the novel, has many suitors, including a Dr. Rinaldi, a physician assigned to Henry's ambulance corps. Rinaldi, recognizing the extent of Henry's feelings, backs away from his pursuit of Nurse Barkley. This way, Hemingway felt that he had complete ascendancy over Catherine's very being. The love affair between Catherine and Frederic is not of mutual give and take. Catherine is completely giving of her body mind and soul. Frederic does not reciprocate any of this; indeed, he is constantly demanding. When he wrote the novel, Hemingway was older. He was married and divorced to his first wife Hadley. His real life wife, Pauline, was pregnant with his child and had a difficult cesarean birth around the time the novel was completed--almost a decade after World War I ended. This was the difficulty of childbirth that Hemingway forced upon the character of Hemingway attributed to his characters his feelings of that time. Catherine also combined the characteristics of both Hadley and Pauline."

Tags:rain, war, love, alcoholic, divorce

Abstract
The paper examines the book, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Czeck author, Milan Kundera and compares it to the film by the same name directed by Philip Kaufman. The paper discusses the life of Kundera before analyzing both book and movie. It also shows similarities and differences between the two.

From the Paper
"The Unbearable Lightness of Being novel is written by Milan Kundera, and has received great critical and popular attention. It was published in 1984 and left a tremendous impact on the history of contemporary literature. Milan Kundera is one of the Czech Republic's most articulate authors. According to Natasha Twal, "He is a virtuoso whose intelligence is both speculative and playful. His intellectual panache as well as his endless ability to generate original ideas from the most archetypal- almost mudane- humane situations insures that he is never less than stimulating" (The Star 3- 30, 98)."

Tags:characters, Academy, of, Music, and, Dramatic, Arts, Tomas, Tereza, Prague