Teaching The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Instructions for You

Objective: We should put the steps in this lesson out of order and start claiming Shmoop is the most avant garde company in America. Don't worry—we're not going to do that. Though maybe we should, since clearly Milan Kundera's decision to mess around with linearity hasn't stopped you from teaching his book. Seriously: The entire book is out of sync—almost all of the characters die before the last chapter when we see them back alive. It's a literary hot mess.

In this activity, though, students will wade through it all, analyzing the impact story structure has on the text. It might take a while, but you can totally assign some of it for homework. That said, we suggest setting aside three class periods for this one, and—of course—waiting until you've all finished reading.

Materials Needed: Copies of The Unbearable Lightness of Being; graph paper; pencils; rulers

Step 1: There are times for easing kids into things, and times to throw them right into the thick of it—which is what you'll be doing for this activity. Tell students to get out their books and put each of the seven parts of the book in chronological order, starting with the earliest. Give them a few minutes to do this. Then, with student input, generate a linear timeline on the board.

Have students think on the following question for a minute before taking responses:

Does having the events in the "correct" order change anything (besides the overall structure)?

Step 2: Have students select one character from the novel to work with, then using their books, they should create two timelines. The first timeline will present events as they unfold in the book, and should encompass all possible information and events relevant to that person. The second timeline should be the same as the first—except with everything put in chronological order.

Before moving onto the next step, take a moment to discuss es muss sein and eternal recurrence with your class. Need a hand? Click on through to check out our thoughts on es muss sein and eternal recurrence—we've got your back.

Step 3: Many characters are, to totally make up a word, more themey than others. Sabina is associated with kitsch; Tomas is associated with lots of things, but especially eternal recurrence; Tereza is flat out es muss sein.

Tell students they should choose a theme associated with the character whose timeline they mapped. Then, in about three pages, they should describe how they would rearrange the events of the book to best exemplify and highlight this theme and their character's connection to it. Yes, this is perfect to assign as homework.

Step 4: Papers done, pair students up with someone who has been working with a different character. They'll need to bring both of their timelines to this conversation, as well as their short papers. Have them swap, diving into a different character and then discussing the following amongst themselves:

• How well does your partner's timeline work when it's put in chronological order? 
• How much did your partner's chronological timeline differ from the timeline in the book?
• Did one of your characters lend themselves more readily to chronological order? If so, why? If not, what does this suggest about the plot structure in the book?

When everyone's finished, pose these same questions to the class in general—it will be interesting to see if students who work with the same characters make similar assessments.

Step 5: To wrap this activity up, it's time to return to the text. Have students look at the timeline they made that reflects the order of things in the book (in other words, their non-chronological timelines). Now things get a little weird. For each event on their timeline, they need to describe how it functions in the story. For space reasons, they might want to do this on a separate piece of paper—just remind them to note which event they're referring to.

Not sure what we're talking about? Here's an example: Instead of describing how Tereza takes pictures of the tanks and soldiers in 1968, students will explain the event in context of what the author is doing from an abstract standpoint. They might say: "The narrative then shifts back several years to emphasize the circularity of time, but also to narrate one of many chances that brought Tereza and Tomas together, effectively supporting the notion of es muss sein."

Students are putting the puzzle together, so to speak, going beyond recognizing that the plot structure is deliberate, and pushing themselves to articulate how the plot works.

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: Be honest: When you reached the end of Part 6, where, like, everyone dies only to magically be alive again in Part 7, did you let loose a long string of frustrated expletives? You wouldn't be the first person to do so, that's for sure—The Unbearable Lightness of Being has been known to have this effect on people.

Here's the thing, though: Kundera wasn't just messing with you when he assembled this hot mess of a plot structure. Nope, he did it because it fits in well with the themes of the novel. Don't worry if this hasn't clicked yet, though—this activity is here to help. You might even say it will shed some light on a heavy situation…

Step 1: Get our your book. See how it's divided into seven parts that are woefully out of order? Put those bad boys in chronological order, a.k.a. from oldest to newest. Once you have things in the "correct" order, consider this: What does this reorganization change about the book (besides the overall plot structure)? Be prepared to share your thoughts with the class.

Step 2: Pick a character you find particularly interesting, and create two timelines for them: One that details events as they progress in the novel, and the other that details the events in chronological order.

Step 3: Many characters are, to totally make up a word, more themey than others. Sabina is associated with kitsch; Tomas is associated with lots of things, but especially eternal recurrence; Tereza is flat out es muss sein.

Pick a theme associated with the character whose timeline you've mapped and, in about three pages, describe how you would rearrange the events of the book to best exemplify and highlight this theme and your character's connection to it. Be prepared to spend some quality time on this at home.

Step 4: Papers done, pair up with someone who has been working with a different character. You'll need to bring both of your timelines to this conversation, as well as your short paper. Swap your work with your partner, diving into a different character and then discussing the following amongst yourselves:

• How well does your partner's timeline work when it's put in chronological order? 
• How much did your partner's chronological timeline differ from the timeline in the book?
• Did one of your characters lend themselves more readily to chronological order? If so, why? If not, what does this suggest about the plot structure in the book?

When everyone's finished, get ready to discuss these same questions with the rest of your class—it will be interesting to see if anyone who's worked with the same character as you makes similar assessments.

Step 5: To wrap this activity up, it's time to return to the text. Look at the timeline you made that reflects the order of things in the book (in other words, your non-chronological timeline). Now things get a little weird. For each event on your timeline, you need to describe how it functions in the story. For space reasons, you might want to do this on a separate piece of paper—just remember them to note which event you're referring to as you go along.

Not sure what this looks like? Here's an example: Instead of describing how Tereza takes pictures of the tanks and soldiers in 1968, you will explain the event in context of what the author is doing from an abstract standpoint. So you might say: "The narrative then shifts back several years to emphasize the circularity of time, but also to narrate one of many chances that brought Tereza and Tomas together, effectively supporting the notion of es muss sein."

Make sense? Now hop to it.