When too much emphasis is put on meaning, life become unbearably heavy; but when too much is put on the freeness and meaningless aspects, life becomes unbearably light. In order to find a balance, people must first realize that it is okay to have meaning for some aspects of life and freedom for others. In literature, the symbols of lightness and weight have been use to represent a dichotomous relationship exposing the realities of life. Within the novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, lightness and weight represent life choices that a person believes to be meaningless and choices that they believe to be full of meaning. It is through the use of third person omniscient narration that the reader is able to understand the minds of each character
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Simon’s search for meaning is evident in the way he views his father. Simon sets up occurrences that would allow him to run into his father, “Tomas… was thinking about his son. He remembered passing him in the street during the past two months. Apparently these encounters had not be fortuitous” (213). These run-ins with his father seem to grant Simon permission to be a part of his father life. Although they have not spoken in years, Simon emphasizes an act so meaningless. After this meeting, Simon keeps in contact with his father by writing him letters, and soon finds out that he has moved to the country side and lives much like how Simon does, “when he learned that Tomas, too, was living in the country, he was thrilled: fate had made their lives symmetrical” (270). With his father living a similar life, Simon is convinced that it was fate, he believes that there is an obvious meaning behind why and refuses to believe that there is no real meaning why either of them live the ways in which they do. Once Tomas dies, Simon is responsible for his funeral, “The moment he received the telegram from the chairman of the collective farm, he jumped on his motorcycle. He arrived in time to arrange for the funeral. The inscription he chose to go under his father's name on the gravestone read: HE WANTED THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON …show more content…
A character’s weight symbolizes their desire for each aspect of life to have a greater meaning; whereas, a characters lightness represents their inability to find meaning in anything. Each character of the novel struggles to find a balance between the two diverging realities, resulting in a display of many different, scenarios that have both positive and negative outcomes; more specifically, Tereza, Franz and Simon all struggle with an impenetrable bind to a life so full of meaning that they are oblivious to the world around them and struggle in the daily lives, resulting in tragic and ironic outcomes. In life, people must find a middle way between the lightness and weight of life; they must understand that to give every small thing in life a large amount of meaning is pointless and overwhelming. In order to find this middle way, people must be willing to let go of their meaning, or grasp more meaning to strive towards a world that has both meaning and freedom. When one is fully able to do so, they are no longer bound to a basic life, but are able to live in such a way that they can be happy and understand the world in which they
Simon’s search for meaning is evident in the way he views his father. Simon sets up occurrences that would allow him to run into his father, “Tomas… was thinking about his son. He remembered passing him in the street during the past two months. Apparently these encounters had not be fortuitous” (213). These run-ins with his father seem to grant Simon permission to be a part of his father life. Although they have not spoken in years, Simon emphasizes an act so meaningless. After this meeting, Simon keeps in contact with his father by writing him letters, and soon finds out that he has moved to the country side and lives much like how Simon does, “when he learned that Tomas, too, was living in the country, he was thrilled: fate had made their lives symmetrical” (270). With his father living a similar life, Simon is convinced that it was fate, he believes that there is an obvious meaning behind why and refuses to believe that there is no real meaning why either of them live the ways in which they do. Once Tomas dies, Simon is responsible for his funeral, “The moment he received the telegram from the chairman of the collective farm, he jumped on his motorcycle. He arrived in time to arrange for the funeral. The inscription he chose to go under his father's name on the gravestone read: HE WANTED THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON …show more content…
A character’s weight symbolizes their desire for each aspect of life to have a greater meaning; whereas, a characters lightness represents their inability to find meaning in anything. Each character of the novel struggles to find a balance between the two diverging realities, resulting in a display of many different, scenarios that have both positive and negative outcomes; more specifically, Tereza, Franz and Simon all struggle with an impenetrable bind to a life so full of meaning that they are oblivious to the world around them and struggle in the daily lives, resulting in tragic and ironic outcomes. In life, people must find a middle way between the lightness and weight of life; they must understand that to give every small thing in life a large amount of meaning is pointless and overwhelming. In order to find this middle way, people must be willing to let go of their meaning, or grasp more meaning to strive towards a world that has both meaning and freedom. When one is fully able to do so, they are no longer bound to a basic life, but are able to live in such a way that they can be happy and understand the world in which they