Study Guide
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Part 1, Chapter 2
By Milan Kundera
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Part 1, Chapter 2
- On the other hand, if our lives are repeated an infinite number of times, everything we do carries with it a great significance, a great weight of responsibility.
- For this reason, Nietzsche calls the notion of eternal return "the heaviest of all burdens" (in German, of course).
- If heaviness is such a drag, then it's wonderful that we live our lives only once – we get to be nice and light and responsibility-free.
- But wait a second…is it really better to be light and responsibility-free?
- Maybe not. Take sex, for example – women long to be pinned down by the weight of a man. Weight might mean responsibility, but it also means pleasure and fulfillment and meaning.
- So which one is better – lightness or weight?
- Parmenides, a philosopher in the sixth century BC, considered this question and decided that lightness was better.
- But whether he was right or not remains to be seen.
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- Introduction
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Summary
- Part 1, Chapter 1
- Part 1, Chapter 2
- Part 1, Chapter 3
- Part 1, Chapter 4
- Part 1, Chapter 5
- Part 1, Chapter 6
- Part 1, Chapter 7
- Part 1, Chapter 8
- Part 1, Chapter 9
- Part 1, Chapter 10
- Part 1, Chapter 11
- Part 1, Chapter 12
- Part 1, Chapter 13
- Part 1, Chapter 14
- Part 1, Chapter 15
- Part 1, Chapter 16
- Part 1, Chapter 17
- Part 2, Chapter 1
- Part 2, Chapter 2
- Part 2, Chapter 3
- Part 2, Chapter 4
- Part 2, Chapter 5
- Part 2, Chapter 6
- Part 2, Chapter 7
- Part 2, Chapter 8
- Part 2, Chapter 9
- Part 2, Chapter 10
- Part 2, Chapter 11
- Part 2, Chapter 12
- Part 2, Chapter 13
- Part 2, Chapter 14
- Part 2, Chapter 15
- Part 2, Chapter 16
- Part 2, Chapter 17
- Part 2, Chapter 18
- Part 2, Chapter 19
- Part 2, Chapter 20
- Part 2, Chapter 21
- Part 2, Chapter 22
- Part 2, Chapter 23
- Part 2, Chapter 24
- Part 2, Chapter 25
- Part 2, Chapter 26
- Part 2, Chapter 27
- Part 2, Chapter 28
- Part 2, Chapter 29
- Part 3, Chapter 1
- Part 3, Chapter 2
- Part 3, Chapter 3
- Part 3, Chapter 4
- Part 3, Chapter 5
- Part 3, Chapter 6
- Part 3, Chapter 7
- Part 3, Chapter 8
- Part 3, Chapter 9
- Part 3, Chapter 10
- Part 3, Chapter 11
- Part 4, Chapter 1
- Part 4, Chapter 2
- Part 4, Chapter 3
- Part 4, Chapter 4
- Part 4, Chapter 5
- Part 4, Chapter 6
- Part 4, Chapter 7
- Part 4, Chapter 8
- Part 4, Chapter 9
- Part 4, Chapter 10
- Part 4, Chapter 11
- Part 4, Chapter 12
- Part 4, Chapter 13
- Part 4, Chapter 14
- Part 4, Chapter 15
- Part 4, Chapter 16
- Part 4, Chapter 17
- Part 4, Chapter 18
- Part 4, Chapter 19
- Part 4, Chapter 20
- Part 4, Chapter 21
- Part 4, Chapter 22
- Part 4, Chapter 23
- Part 4, Chapter 24
- Part 4, Chapter 25
- Part 4, Chapter 26
- Part 4, Chapter 27
- Part 4, Chapter 28
- Part 4, Chapter 29
- Part 5, Chapter 1
- Part 5, Chapter 2
- Part 5, Chapter 3
- Part 5, Chapter 4
- Part 5, Chapter 5
- Part 5, Chapter 6
- Part 5, Chapter 7
- Part 5, Chapter 8
- Part 5, Chapter 9
- Part 5, Chapter 10
- Part 5, Chapter 11
- Part 5, Chapter 12
- Part 5, Chapter 13
- Part 5, Chapter 14
- Part 5, Chapter 15
- Part 5, Chapter 16
- Part 5, Chapter 17
- Part 5, Chapter 18
- Part 5, Chapter 19
- Part 5, Chapter 20
- Part 5, Chapter 21
- Part 5, Chapter 22
- Part 5, Chapter 23
- Part 6, Chapter 1
- Part 6, Chapter 2
- Part 6, Chapter 3
- Part 6, Chapter 4
- Part 6, Chapter 5
- Part 6, Chapter 6
- Part 6, Chapter 7
- Part 6, Chapter 8
- Part 6, Chapter 9
- Part 6, Chapter 10
- Part 6, Chapter 11
- Part 6, Chapter 12
- Part 6, Chapter 13
- Part 6, Chapter 14
- Part 6, Chapter 15
- Part 6, Chapter 16
- Part 6, Chapter 17
- Part 6, Chapter 18
- Part 6, Chapter 19
- Part 6, Chapter 20
- Part 6, Chapter 21
- Part 6, Chapter 22
- Part 6, Chapter 23
- Part 6, Chapter 24
- Part 6, Chapter 25
- Part 6, Chapter 26
- Part 6, Chapter 27
- Part 6, Chapter 28
- Part 6, Chapter 29
- Part 7, Chapter 1
- Part 7, Chapter 2
- Part 7, Chapter 3
- Part 7, Chapter 4
- Part 7, Chapter 5
- Part 7, Chapter 6
- Part 7, Chapter 7
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