Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Time, Happiness, and Eternal Return
Lightness, Weight, and Dichotomies
Sex, Love, and Duality of Body and Soul
Words and Language
Power, Politics, and Inequality
Summary
Analysis
All that remains of the Grand March is a picture of the American actress, and all that remains of Tomas is a tombstone that reads: “HE WANTED THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH.” All that is left of Beethoven is “Es muss sein!” All that is left is kitsch, which, the narrator says, is “the stopover” between being and nonbeing.
