Petru Maior University of Trgu-Mure

The Paradox of Lightness as Heaviness of Being

Movil Georgeta RE III, group 2

2012

The Paradox of Lightness as Heaviness of Being The Unbearable Lightness of Being is one of the most fascinating books I have ever encountered. The opposition of lightness versus weight is more than the keydichotomy of Kunderas novel, it is a gripping paradox that arises many questions in the mind of the reader. From the very beginning we can see that the novel explores this dichotomy, but also those of soul and body, strength and weakness, fidelity and infidelity, life and death To my mind, the opposition of lightness versus weight is more than a contrast. The aim of my interpretation is, thus, to demonstrate that lightness can be heavier than heaviness itself. The paradox of lightness as weight is evolved at the level of human relationships and human nature in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Of the seven parts of the novel, part one and five are entitled Lightness and weight, both focusing primarily on Tomas, the protagonist of the novel, a light-hearted intellectual surgeon living in Prague. Kundera opens the novel with his reflections on Nietzsche's idea of eternal return, which leads to the discussion of Parmenides' dichotomization of the world. The narrator asks what follows from the assumption that man may try only one path. If man cannot try different paths, and weigh them against one another, does that mean that human life is characterized by unbearable lightness or meaninglessness? But is heaviness truly deplorable and lightness splendid? (Kundera, p. 5). Or does meaning only come from weight? Lightness versus weight is one of the fundamental oppositions of physical world. As I pointed out before, this idea of dichotomy is evoked at the beginning of the novel where the writer reveals the theory of the ancient philosopher Parmenides: He saw the world divided into pairs of opposites: light/ darkness, fineness/ coarseness, warmth/ cold, being/ non-being. One half of the oppositions he called positive (light, fineness, warmth, being), the other negative. We might find this division into positive and negative poles childishly simple except for one difficulty: which one is positive, weight or lightness? (Kundera, p. 5). Kundera concludes this section by asking whether Parmenides was correct or not in his assigning lightness as positive, and weight as negative: Was he

correct or not? That is the question. Tomas' existential question or problem thus becomes: What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness? (Kundera, 5). Secondly, Tomas does not seem to show any familiarity with Nietzsche's concept of eternal return. He believes that, because life only occurs once, "history is as light as individual human life, unbearably light, light as a feather, as dust swirling into the air, as whatever will no longer exist tomorrow" (Kundera, 223). Tomas's reflections on the insubstantiality and meaninglessness of life lead him to conclude that there is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison. We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?" (Kundera, 8). It is this sense of life and its' meaning which Kundera calls the unbearable lightness. On the other hand, we can deduce from the narrative that lightness is associated with freedom, escape, and a lack of commitment. It is attractive, but in the same time so fragile, and so threatened by the weight of existence. Weight is associated with the idea of eternal return, and the weight of unbearable responsibility. From this perspective we are seduced to believe that lightness is something positive in contrast with weight. But lets see what happens at another level of comprehension. Tomass erotic friendship with Sabrina is characterized by mutual lightness, while his love and compassion for Tereza is heaviness. Sabina lives her life as an extreme example of lightness, taking a profound satisfaction in the act of betrayal: she betrays her fathers house, her art school, her lovers and finally her country ("Betrayal means breaking ranks and going off into the unknown. Sabina knew of nothing more magnificent..."). In contrast, Tereza is by nature committed to heaviness. Kundera says that "he knew that she had become a burden to him: she took things too seriously, turning everything into a tragedy, and failed to grasp the lightness and amusing insignificance of physical love (Kundera, p. 143). Tereza's heaviness is symbolized by associating her with heavy objects. The suitcase she carries seems to contain her whole life, a burden Tomas must also bear. Tereza also introduces Tomas to Beethoven and the profound heaviness of his music. In addition, the novel Tereza reads when she first arrives and after which the couple name their dog is Anna Karenina. This novel, with its tragic tale of love, suffering and suicide both foreshadows the kind of love Tereza offers Tomas, and

hints constantly at the threat of suicide. That Kundera portrays both the light Tomas and the heavy Tereza as sympathetic characters points to the sincerity of the philosophical dilemma: both lightness and heaviness seem meaningful and desirable. The Paradox of Lightness as Heaviness of Being is that one of the positive becoming negative and vice versa and this paradox relies on Sabinas nature (the paradox of lightness as heaviness): Her drama was a drama not of heaviness but of lightness. What fell to her lot was not the burden but the unbearable lightness of being (Kundera, p. 122). In America, Sabina understands that her extreme choices might leave her irrelevant and alone. This knowledge makes Sabina uneasy; she wonders whether she has anything left to betray. She will also never know what could have happened had she not betrayed so many people over the years. Here the lightness of being is associated with a negative state of mind. But the last symbol of eternal lightness in Sabinas nature, her desire to me cremated and thrown to the winds after death, is very suggestive: Tereza and Tomas had died under the sign of weight. She wanted to die under the sign of lightness. She would be lighter than air. As Parmenides would put it, the negative would change to positive."(Kundera, 273). Finally, Sabina, the only character left living, understands that her death will mean an end to all wanderings, the end to the unbearable lightness of being (the paradox of heaviness as lightness). One often associates an unbearable feeling with heaviness (negative) and the state of well being with lightness (positive). The title of Kunderas novel reveals how fragile this hypothesis is. In the case of the main character of the novel, Tomas, heaviness also suffers a transformation from negative to positive. Like Sabina, Tomas wishes to be light, to take his sexuality and exploits lightly and to be free to enjoy his career and interests. He falls in love with Tereza proving that opposites attract and fulfill each other. Even if Tomass character does not fundamentally change over the course of the novel, he gains a modicum of heaviness. James S. Hans considers that the heaviness of being was something added to his character the moment he fell in love with Tereza, and finally, he becomes heavy regardless the delights he takes in lightness. For Tomas freedom is certainly light, and burdens are heavy, but he realized that so is the weight of a man's body on a woman's in the act of love. Thus, the heaviest of burdens is simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment (Kundera, p. 5).

If we return to Kunderas question - Was Parmenide correct or not in his assigning lightness as positive, and weight as negative?, I believe he was not, but, without knowing the right answer, I can only agree with Kundera: The only certainty is: the lightness/ weight opposition is the most mysterious of all. (Kundera, 6). So, the unbearable lightness of being is associated, as highlighted before, with the fact that each decision is faced once and only one possible outcome tried. Tomas chose Tereza and burden, Sabina chose freedom and total lightness. But neither can know whether they chose correctly.

Bibliography 1. Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. London: Faber and faber, 1985 2. Idem. Insuportabila uurtate a fiinei. Bucureti: Humanitas, 2007 3. Hans, S. James. The Fate of Desire. New York: State of University of New York Press, 1990