Commentary on The Unbearable Lightness of Being Essay

This commentary will explore the use of vocabulary, punctuation and imagery by Milan Kundera in an extract of the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being . The passage to be analysed is located in the fourth part of the book named â€Å"Soul and Body†. It portrays a scene where one of the main characters, Tereza, is in front of a mirror and finds herself dealing with the conflict between identity and image. Her disconformities with her body act as a trigger for this questioning to arise and bring back memories from her childhood. The entire passage is structured in three sections: one where she criticises her body, another where queries arise from these observations and finally one where she demonstrates her definite opinion on the situation.†¦show more content†¦Some of these are highlighted by repetition like â€Å"very large, very dark circles†. The metaphor at the end of the paragraph on pornography conveys a feeling of vulgarity, violence and despicability . The idea of the body as a means for sex is a theme around which the passage also revolves and we are introduced to it by the inclusion of the term â€Å"pornography†. As a consequence, the reader is impacted and comprehends Tereza’s deep concerns and overall heaviness of her character. We are accustomed to long sentences from the beginning, successful tool for the author to elongate and deepen the imagery of the passage. In addition, they simulate movement and provide the reader with the idea of Tereza’s eyes moving along her skin, examining every detail of it. After this description, Kundera follows to a set of questions that arise in Tereza’s mind. This change in punctuation clearly introduces the reader into a new environment, a more philosophical one where Tereza deliberates upon the relationship between soul and body. Kundera’s choice of separating each of these thoughts into different, short paragraphs gives the sensation of thoughts flashing up in the character’s mind. Simultaneously, it pauses the reader in order to be able to answer those doubts from their own perspective. Nonetheless, Kundera grants Tereza anShow MoreRelated Commentary on Alphonso Lingis’s article, The World as a Whole1695 Words   |  7 PagesCommentar y on Alphonso Lingis’s article, â€Å"The World as a Whole† Martin Heidegger’s work in Being and Time elucidated a phenomenological ontology in which death and anxiety function as the imminent possibility of impossibility, circumscribing Dasein and inscribing weight to Dasein’s temporal existence. He constructs an individual whose ontological whole is made of three fundamental elements that function as a whole; understanding, feeling and action. This being, Dasein (translated as Being There)