- Tereza's mother used to flaunt her lack of shame. The narrator interprets this as "a single grand gesture, a casting off of youth and beauty" (2.7.1). She used "her new immodesty to draw a dividing line through her life and proclaim that youth and beauty were overrated and worthless" (2.7.2).
- Tereza's life seems to the narrator to be a continuation of her mother's gesture of casting off her youth and beauty.