Part Two- Soul and Body

We see exactly what happened in part one, except that it is from Tereza’s point of view. She feels that the soul and body are entirely separate entities. Tereza looks like her mother; she was beautiful in her youth but married early because of pregnancy and took pleasure in embarrassing and torturing Tereza. Her mother paraded about the house naked and spoke in public about her sex life to demonstrate that all human bodies were equal and natural. Tereza found comfort after hearing a string quartet from Prague play Beethoven. When she first meets Tomas she hears strains of Beethoven on the radio, and understands he is from Prague. To add to the coincidence, his hotel room number is six, the number of her parents' house in Prague before their divorce. She tells Tomas she leaves work at six, and when she leaves, she finds him sitting outside the entrance on her favourite bench. The second time Tereza visits Tomas; she arrives with her suitcase and Anna Karenina. In Prague Tereza learns photography, she and Sabina celebrate her success by going out dancing; Tereza dances with a man she meets, and enjoys Tomas's jealousy at seeing her with another man. Thinking constantly of Tomas's affairs, Tereza decides to try and make other women's bodies something her and Tomas share, rather than something that divides them. She befriends Sabina and goes to her studio, where Sabina shows her paintings and describes her artistic project. Tereza takes pictures of Sabina in a bowler hat, and then asks her to take off her clothes. The two women drink and Sabina strips. After Tereza takes several photographs, Sabina takes the camera and tells Tereza to strip. During the Soviet tank invasion, Tereza takes shots of young Czech women torturing celibate Russian soldiers by parading in tiny miniskirts and kissing random passers-by. Tereza is miserable in Geneva; she has nothing to do while Tomas works in the hospital or sees other women. A phone call from a woman asking for Tomas sends her over the edge, and she returns to Prague with her dog Karenin. In Prague she considers moving back to the small town she came from, or having an affair. Tomas arrives after five days, having followed her to Prague; his arrival makes Tereza realize that she did not leave the city because she was unconsciously hoping he would follow her.

There are a number of themes which run throughout part two of this novel. The most obvious is perhaps the concepts of body and soul and also that of dependence. Other themes include: Coincidence, dreams, music, art and repression. Also a number of motifs have become clearer: the number 6, Anna Karenina, The suitcase and Music.

The characters have developed at this point and we can begin to understand them a little better. Tereza has become more dependant upon Tomas and seems to feel threatened almost all the time. Tomas is not significantly developed, however we get a greater insight into Sabina, particularly through the motif of her art. We see her as being almost a complete opposite to Tereza.

A sense of place is created but it split in two. We see two different views from Terezas eyes. We see how Tereza views both Prague and Zurich. In this part we are still receiving the philosophical points but it has become more story like in a way.

I am beginning to appreciate Kundera’s style of writing and this the book is becoming more enjoyable for me, the novel is most intriguing.