Wednesday/Thursday

For Monday/Wednesday, read big Parts II and III. Choose one prompt from each section to respond to in a one-page, clearly written response. That means three one-page responses next class period.
Part I: Lightness and Weight:
Comment on heaviness and lightness, eternal return, what Tereza, Tomas, and Sabina have to do with any of the above, and then comment on the repetition of the floating basket image.

Part II: Body and Soul:
Complete one journal entry from among these prompts. SHOW you have read the assignment as you think about it:
1. Analyze and consider the repeated metaphor of the soul as a crew in a ship's bowels rushing up to the surface to show itself to Tomas. What has it to do with "Soul and Body"?
2. Think on paper about eternal return and individuation with regard to Tereza's view of herself in the mirror. What are Tereza's attitudes about the body? About the soul?
3. The final sentences of "Part I: Lightness and Weight" are, "Tomas felt no compassion. All he felt was the pressure in his stomach and the despair of having returned." In "Soul and Body," Chapter 2, the narrator says, "But just make someone who has fallen in love listen to his stomach rumble, and the unity of body and soul, that lyrical illusion of the age of science, instantly fades away." Tomas is a doctor. Does he hold that "lyrical illusion of the age of science" that the body and soul are actually one thing?

Part III: Words Misunderstood:
1. Reread page 111-114. Do you agree more with Franz’s understanding of “Strength” and “Living in Truth” or with Sabina’s interpretation of those words?
2. Comment on the irony – or whatever else you see – in this section’s ending image in which Franz closes his eyes as he listens to the gray-haired man.
3. Why does Franz think his life is light and Sabina’s heavy? Do you agree that Sabina’s experiences with oppression give her life weight? Is Czechoslovakia heavier than Switzerland?