Symbolism In The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
Catarina Botto
World Literature: The use of symbols to portray characters in A Hero of Our Time and The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
In the novels The Unbearable Lightness of Being and A Hero of Our Time, the two authors use symbols to represent certain characters. In both books these symbols are used as extended metaphors, by doing this the authors allow the reader to have a better understanding of the character, their personality, attitudes and relationships. To do this, however, the two authors use different approaches. In Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being he uses symbols to reflect his protagonist’s two lovers, he does this by consistently associating them to specific objects that they relate to. On the other hand …show more content…
Mikhail Lermontov uses parallels to show the way in which his main character sees two secondary characters in the novel. Despite both authors using symbols to represent their characters, both their purpose and their approach is very different.
In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Tomas, the protagonist has a long-term lover, Sabina. In the novel Sabina is portrayed as a bowler hat, which she herself describes as a leitmotif in her life. This bowler hat is used as a symbol for all her own characteristics, her relationship with Tomas, as well as various special moments in her life. Sabina is a very erotic, individual person and the hat makes her feel that way “she put on the hat and put it on her head, the image in the mirror was instantaneously transformed”. It also symbolizes her rebellion, as after her grandfathers death out of spite she sarcastically said she would take the hat as her sole inheritance. Similarly, it acts as a symbol to her two relationships with Tomas, and then Franz. The bowler hat was turned into an exotic object by Sabina and Tomas, symbolizing the playfulness and lightness of their relationship. When she tries to do the same thing with Franz, he removes it from her head. This action shows the contrast between her two relationships; she relates to the hat and Tomas understands that and shares the same view, whilst Franz removed it from her head because he didn’t understand the meaning behind it. The hat accompanied her through her life, as it belonged to her grandfather, every time she moves she takes it with her “The bowler hat was a motif in the musical composition that was Sabina's life. It returned again and again, each time with a different meaning…” . After spending some time apart, Sabina shows up at Tomas’s hotel room door wearing her hat, “he realized how touched he was”, the reason why he felt so touched was because they both know the meaning the hat has to both their relationship as well as Sabina as an individual.
Aside from his relationship with Sabina, Tomas meets a girl, Teresa whom he eventually marries. After they first meet, Teresa packs her bags and leaves everything to go to live with Tomas in Prague. When she shows up at his door she is carrying a heavy suitcase, which becomes a symbol of her attitude and her relationship with Tomas. What she brings into his life is, like the suitcase, weight and burden. Tomas is constantly worrying about her, taking care of her and adapting to suit her “To assuage Tereza’s sufferings, he married her”. Like Tomas carrying her suitcase for her, Teresa depends and relies on him. “He immediately realized that the suitcase contained her life and she had left it at the station only until she could offer it up to him”. By packing everything up into her suitcase and leaving everything she has to go live with a man she barely knows is an attitude that reflects Teresa’s whole philosophy. In fact throughout the book she proves herself to be extremely naïve and vulnerable. For example when she meets an engineer when working behind a bar and follows him up to his apartment, she very soon regrets this decision and realizes her naivety. The suitcase also reflects her attitude towards situations, how strongly and negatively she takes things.
These two symbols in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, are used as a tool. They both show the reader various aspects of the two characters leading to a deeper understanding of the two. They also complement perfectly a major theme in the book, Lightness and Weight. The symbols show the contrast between the two women, as the paradoxical lightness and weight in Tomas’s life which he is torn between. This contrast is perfectly illustrated in the two scenes in which Sabina shows up at his door in her bowler hat, and Teresa shows up with her heavy suitcase. The two women bringing to him the two opposite aspects of his life.
In the novel A Hero of Our Time, we meet a character, Grushnitsky. Grushnitsky is a cadet who served only one year yet constantly wears a soldiers overcoat. This greatcoat becomes his symbol in the book. The object itself reflects some of the characteristics that the novels protagonist, Pechorin, hates about Grushnitsky. He is a poser, much like the coat, which tries to make believe to be more than it is, in fact he makes believe that he is more than just a cadet “I’ll bet she doesn’t know you’re a cadet but thinks you’re a demoted officer”. It is also used as a tool by the author to show his phony character “the sympathy it (the overcoat) evokes is as unwelcome as charity” this quote shows his phoniness as he spend the rest of the novel proving the pride he has in his coat. The coat is also used by Lermontov to show that the symbol of the greatcoat is the way in which other characters, such as princess Mary and Pechorin, see him, as well as how he sees himself. This is seen clearly when he changes his greatcoat into a new one, and Princess Mary says how he has “changed”.
Another important character in Lermontov’s novel is Bela, a girl Pechorin falls in love with and who falls in love with him.
In order to get Bela, Pechorin had to go to her brother and make a deal in which he would give her Bela if Pechorin stole a horse for him. Throughout the novel there are various references in which women and horses are compared, for example when “you speak about woman as if she were an English thoroughbred” or “breeding women as in horses”. These frequent comparisons already give the idea that Pechorin sees women the same way he sees horses, these then become more specific when talking about Bela and the parallels build. First of all as she is traded for a horse, it shows that is the value that is given to her by both her brother and her lover. Pechorin then continues to describing her beauty by referring to it when he sees a horse with “Eyes as fine as Bela’s”. After she moves in with him and they become lovers, this parallel also reflects their relationship as he begins to treat her much like he would treat an animal, using vocabulary such as “petted and fondled her” and referring to her as “entertainment”. Her personality also reinforces this image as despite him mistreating her she continues to please him and stay loyal, much like a pet would and much how Kazbich’s horse is
described.
When looking at the symbols used by Lermontov in his novel one must keep in mind the novels is written as a journal, Pechorin’s journal. These images therefore are showing the reader the way in which Pechorin sees these characters, both of which, despite being secondary characters, are very important in his life. Because of this, the descriptions of the two characters show us more about Pechorins personality, how he sees people as they for example illustrate the way he sees and treats women. Grushnitsky on the other hand is a sort of rival in the novel, his attitude towards him, his jealousy and critical views, therefore show us his attitudes towards rivalry. These two secondary characters show very different sides of Pechorin, and these symbols or parallels emphasize this.
In the novels A Hero of Our Time and The Unbearable Lightness of Being the two authors use symbols which highlight certain traits of a few characters. Their techniques, however, are rather different. Milan Kundera uses objects that have characteristics which directly relate to the character such as the weight of the suitcase, and which at the same time have a meaning for the characters. By doing this he emphasizes one of the books major themes, and gives an insight on the protagonist seeing as they are his major relationships. Similarly Mikhail Lermontov also uses his symbols to teach the reader about his protagonist, he does it however through Pechorin’s journal. This means that all of the discriptions and symbols not only reflect the characters they are symbolizing but also Pechorin’s thoughts.
World Literature: The use of symbols to portray characters in A Hero of Our Time and The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
In the novels The Unbearable Lightness of Being and A Hero of Our Time, the two authors use symbols to represent certain characters. In both books these symbols are used as extended metaphors, by doing this the authors allow the reader to have a better understanding of the character, their personality, attitudes and relationships. To do this, however, the two authors use different approaches. In Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being he uses symbols to reflect his protagonist’s two lovers, he does this by consistently associating them to specific objects that they relate to. On the other hand …show more content…
Mikhail Lermontov uses parallels to show the way in which his main character sees two secondary characters in the novel. Despite both authors using symbols to represent their characters, both their purpose and their approach is very different.
In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Tomas, the protagonist has a long-term lover, Sabina. In the novel Sabina is portrayed as a bowler hat, which she herself describes as a leitmotif in her life. This bowler hat is used as a symbol for all her own characteristics, her relationship with Tomas, as well as various special moments in her life. Sabina is a very erotic, individual person and the hat makes her feel that way “she put on the hat and put it on her head, the image in the mirror was instantaneously transformed”. It also symbolizes her rebellion, as after her grandfathers death out of spite she sarcastically said she would take the hat as her sole inheritance. Similarly, it acts as a symbol to her two relationships with Tomas, and then Franz. The bowler hat was turned into an exotic object by Sabina and Tomas, symbolizing the playfulness and lightness of their relationship. When she tries to do the same thing with Franz, he removes it from her head. This action shows the contrast between her two relationships; she relates to the hat and Tomas understands that and shares the same view, whilst Franz removed it from her head because he didn’t understand the meaning behind it. The hat accompanied her through her life, as it belonged to her grandfather, every time she moves she takes it with her “The bowler hat was a motif in the musical composition that was Sabina's life. It returned again and again, each time with a different meaning…” . After spending some time apart, Sabina shows up at Tomas’s hotel room door wearing her hat, “he realized how touched he was”, the reason why he felt so touched was because they both know the meaning the hat has to both their relationship as well as Sabina as an individual.
Aside from his relationship with Sabina, Tomas meets a girl, Teresa whom he eventually marries. After they first meet, Teresa packs her bags and leaves everything to go to live with Tomas in Prague. When she shows up at his door she is carrying a heavy suitcase, which becomes a symbol of her attitude and her relationship with Tomas. What she brings into his life is, like the suitcase, weight and burden. Tomas is constantly worrying about her, taking care of her and adapting to suit her “To assuage Tereza’s sufferings, he married her”. Like Tomas carrying her suitcase for her, Teresa depends and relies on him. “He immediately realized that the suitcase contained her life and she had left it at the station only until she could offer it up to him”. By packing everything up into her suitcase and leaving everything she has to go live with a man she barely knows is an attitude that reflects Teresa’s whole philosophy. In fact throughout the book she proves herself to be extremely naïve and vulnerable. For example when she meets an engineer when working behind a bar and follows him up to his apartment, she very soon regrets this decision and realizes her naivety. The suitcase also reflects her attitude towards situations, how strongly and negatively she takes things.
These two symbols in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, are used as a tool. They both show the reader various aspects of the two characters leading to a deeper understanding of the two. They also complement perfectly a major theme in the book, Lightness and Weight. The symbols show the contrast between the two women, as the paradoxical lightness and weight in Tomas’s life which he is torn between. This contrast is perfectly illustrated in the two scenes in which Sabina shows up at his door in her bowler hat, and Teresa shows up with her heavy suitcase. The two women bringing to him the two opposite aspects of his life.
In the novel A Hero of Our Time, we meet a character, Grushnitsky. Grushnitsky is a cadet who served only one year yet constantly wears a soldiers overcoat. This greatcoat becomes his symbol in the book. The object itself reflects some of the characteristics that the novels protagonist, Pechorin, hates about Grushnitsky. He is a poser, much like the coat, which tries to make believe to be more than it is, in fact he makes believe that he is more than just a cadet “I’ll bet she doesn’t know you’re a cadet but thinks you’re a demoted officer”. It is also used as a tool by the author to show his phony character “the sympathy it (the overcoat) evokes is as unwelcome as charity” this quote shows his phoniness as he spend the rest of the novel proving the pride he has in his coat. The coat is also used by Lermontov to show that the symbol of the greatcoat is the way in which other characters, such as princess Mary and Pechorin, see him, as well as how he sees himself. This is seen clearly when he changes his greatcoat into a new one, and Princess Mary says how he has “changed”.
Another important character in Lermontov’s novel is Bela, a girl Pechorin falls in love with and who falls in love with him.
In order to get Bela, Pechorin had to go to her brother and make a deal in which he would give her Bela if Pechorin stole a horse for him. Throughout the novel there are various references in which women and horses are compared, for example when “you speak about woman as if she were an English thoroughbred” or “breeding women as in horses”. These frequent comparisons already give the idea that Pechorin sees women the same way he sees horses, these then become more specific when talking about Bela and the parallels build. First of all as she is traded for a horse, it shows that is the value that is given to her by both her brother and her lover. Pechorin then continues to describing her beauty by referring to it when he sees a horse with “Eyes as fine as Bela’s”. After she moves in with him and they become lovers, this parallel also reflects their relationship as he begins to treat her much like he would treat an animal, using vocabulary such as “petted and fondled her” and referring to her as “entertainment”. Her personality also reinforces this image as despite him mistreating her she continues to please him and stay loyal, much like a pet would and much how Kazbich’s horse is
described.
When looking at the symbols used by Lermontov in his novel one must keep in mind the novels is written as a journal, Pechorin’s journal. These images therefore are showing the reader the way in which Pechorin sees these characters, both of which, despite being secondary characters, are very important in his life. Because of this, the descriptions of the two characters show us more about Pechorins personality, how he sees people as they for example illustrate the way he sees and treats women. Grushnitsky on the other hand is a sort of rival in the novel, his attitude towards him, his jealousy and critical views, therefore show us his attitudes towards rivalry. These two secondary characters show very different sides of Pechorin, and these symbols or parallels emphasize this.
In the novels A Hero of Our Time and The Unbearable Lightness of Being the two authors use symbols which highlight certain traits of a few characters. Their techniques, however, are rather different. Milan Kundera uses objects that have characteristics which directly relate to the character such as the weight of the suitcase, and which at the same time have a meaning for the characters. By doing this he emphasizes one of the books major themes, and gives an insight on the protagonist seeing as they are his major relationships. Similarly Mikhail Lermontov also uses his symbols to teach the reader about his protagonist, he does it however through Pechorin’s journal. This means that all of the discriptions and symbols not only reflect the characters they are symbolizing but also Pechorin’s thoughts.