The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Summary | Part 1, Chapters 1-5 Summary

The Unbearable Lightness of Being follows the stories of four main characters: Tomas, Tereza, Sabina and Franz. Through the characters' interaction and reflections on their own lives, they come to significant conclusions and revelations about life and themselves.

Milan Kundera begins The Unbearable Lightness of Being by discussing Nietzsche's idea of eternal return. This idea states, "Everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum!" Conversely, a life that disappears, not to return, is meaningless and without weight. Kundera uses a war between two African kingdoms and the French Revolution to illuminate his point that because we do not live by the idea of eternal return. These horrific events lose the immediate emotional impact and power, because they become "mere words, stories, and discussions." Kundera contends that because the world abides by the notion that there is a nonexistence of return "everything is pardoned in advance and therefore cynically permitted."

Kundera further conditions the story by explaining his theory of lightness versus weight. Lightness, it would seem, is the most enviable, as it is without burden. However, Kundera points out that "the woman longs to be weighted down by man's body," and that the weight of life's burdens is what grounds one and makes life meaningful.

By Chapter 3, Kundera begins to introduce the characters. He first starts with Tomas, introducing him as an old friend, creating a relationship between the narrator and the main character. Kundera discusses how Tomas and Tereza met. Their relationship happens in an instant. They meet an hour before Tomas boards a train. Ten days later, Tereza visits, they make love, and she comes down with the flu. Tomas falls in love with Tereza, as he nurses her to health. He also begins to question himself about his emotions for this girl, who is virtually a stranger to him. Tomas is a womanizer and goes to great lengths to keep his life unattached. However, he is overcome with emotion for Tereza and struggles with the decision to be free of her, or to embrace her into his life. Tomas's query has no answer in this world, as there is no eternal return. Kundera explains, "There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison."

In Chapter 4, we find out that Tomas is a doctor. He receives a phone call from Tereza between surgeries. She has come to Prague uninvited and is waiting at the train station for him. Tereza arrives with a small handbag dangling from her shoulder and the book Anna Karenina under her arms. After making love, she informs Tomas that her suitcase is at the train station, and she is awaiting the invitation to bring it with her.

Tomas recalls his wife and son, and the divorce that has led him to his current lifestyle. He analyzes his idea of 'erotic friendship' and the rules he created to ensure he keeps to his unattached bachelor life. Tomas introduces Sabina, his favorite mistress, and asks her to help Tereza get a job in the darkroom at an illustrated weekly.