Saturday, March 14, 2020

Lightness vs. Weight essays

Lightness vs. Weight essays Mila Kunderas novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being has a reoccurring paradox thread throughout his whole book, lightness versus weight. If we only have one opportunity at life, is it worth weighing our different paths against one another? If it isnt, then we live in a state of lightness. There are many characteristics to being light or having weight in your life. Lightness is characterized as not having any formal attachment to the meaning of your life; you live in the moment. People who are light tend to be more free-spirited and easy-going. People who carry the weight have more emotions, and attach more meaning to things in their life. People who carry weight are also more likely to join political parties, than someone who doesnt care someone who is light. When you carry the weight, you have more attachment to things and you invest your feelings, in turn you open yourself up to be hurt. Is lightness better and weight a burden, or does meaning only come from weight? To better understand what lightness and weight means, we look to Tomas and Tereza, introduced in the first chapter. Tomas enjoys the lightness and freedom in his life. Estranged from his family and divorced, Tomas has no attachments to anyone. Before he met Tereza, Tomas was a womanizer and never let the woman spend the night. Despite the fact that Tomas comes across as extremely selfish, but he is very compassionate and sympathetic. These feelings are an example of the influence of weight has on him, and lead to Tereza entering his life. Eventually, Tereza ends up representing the weight in Tomass life. She is characterized as being weight, she is very passionate about her interests, and shes very emotional. The heavy objects that surround Tereza represent this. For example, when Tereza moves in, Tomas accepts the burden of carrying her heavy suitcase, and the weight of her love. Tereza has always don ...