Based on your reading, please respond to the following prompts. Write in complete sentences and use quotes when stipulated.
1. Is it weight or lightness that makes Tomas return to Prague? Do you think he made the right decision?
2. Give 3 examples of things that are heavy and have value. Do the same with 3 things that are light. Which are better? Is it possible to say?
3. What do you think about the following quote? Is it true? Are there multiple possibilities for love out there, as this quote suggests, or do you disagree with this notion? Please do tell.
"Aart from her consummated love for Tomas, there were, in the realm of possibility, an infinite number of unconsummated loves for other men" (34).
4. What does "Ess muss sein" mean? How does it apply to our novel?
5. How is the word "happened" used to explain the love between Tomas and Tereza?
6. What did Tomas feel he was immune to until Tereza infected him with it?
7. Do we see Tomas get jealous at all in this section?
1. Is it weight or lightness that makes Tomas return to Prague? Do you think he made the right decision?
2. Give 3 examples of things that are heavy and have value. Do the same with 3 things that are light. Which are better? Is it possible to say?
3. What do you think about the following quote? Is it true? Are there multiple possibilities for love out there, as this quote suggests, or do you disagree with this notion? Please do tell.
"Aart from her consummated love for Tomas, there were, in the realm of possibility, an infinite number of unconsummated loves for other men" (34).
4. What does "Ess muss sein" mean? How does it apply to our novel?
5. How is the word "happened" used to explain the love between Tomas and Tereza?
6. What did Tomas feel he was immune to until Tereza infected him with it?
7. Do we see Tomas get jealous at all in this section?
1. I think it is weight that makes Tomas return to Prague because when he had the offer to come back to Prague, he thought about Tereza, and he thought that it is irresponsible to go back. I think he made the right decision because it was an administrative order, so I think he couldn’t help it.
ReplyDelete2.The example of things that are heavy is responsibility, relation, and decision (making). And I am not really sure about things that are light, but I think they are style (as in fashion), study, and shopping. To me, something that is light is a thing which we can redo. I think things that are heavy is better because I feel like there is more value in heavy things. For example responsibility is very heavy, and you have to have great care to be responsible because by making a mistake, it might affect your whole life. But accomplishing that will teach you a lot, and you will be able to gain value of it.
3.I think this quote is true, and I agree with it. In my interpretation, I think this quote is saying that in the world, there are varieties of love, other than what Tomas is experiencing. I think there are different ways of being with a partner, and there are different situations depending on the people.
4.“Ess muss sein” means “It must be”. This is the Beethoven’s last quartet. I am not exactly sure, but this applies to our novel because this phrase is repeatedly being used. And the part which was outstanding was when Tomas defined about his own love, and he said that the love he is experiencing does not define “Ess muss sein”.
5. The word “happened” explains how Tomas and Tereza’s relationship is something about the past. It is also explaining that their relationship ended. So the way the word “happened” is used in this passage, is like talking about their memories from the past.
6. Tomas felt immune about being with other women everyday. But after being with Tereza, Tomas couldn’t meet other women as he did before, and he gave all his love toward Tereza.
7.Tomas felt jealous in this section when Tereza was dancing with a younger colleague when they had a celebration of Tereza getting a job. Tomas didn’t have any dance experience, so he couldn’t dance with her. Tomas notices that the couple look very nice together, so he felt jealousy at that time.
I think that weight made Tomas return to Prague. I think he did make the right decision although returning meant he would be under lower circumstances than if he stayed. I think that although Tomas keeps on saying that he should not be moved by compassion, I think that the compassionate part of Tomas is what is really admirable about him.
ReplyDeleteThree examples of things that are heavy are feeding a family, being dutiful, and self-denial. Three examples of things that are light are mostly entertainment which includes things like sports, karaoke, and partying. I think that considering the world as a whole, being able to have heavy things are probably considered to be better. However, nobody can have a life that is 100% heavy. Therefore, I think that both are important, but there needs to be a balance.
I agree with the quote because now and again you do see people who have lost their loved ones who later find somebody else and get remarried. However, some people never meet anybody they sincerely want to share their lives with. Therefore, I think that being able to find somebody you can love is based on luck (some people can call it destiny).
“Ess muss sein” means it must be. When Tereza leaves Tomas, Tomas follows her to Prague, repeating these words over and over to himself, trying to convince himself that he must follow Tereza because it was meant to be.
I think the word “happened” can be used to explain the love between Tomas and Tereza because it just “happened” out of coincidence. Tomas “happened” to meet Tereza working and fell in love with her. Therefore, Tomas says that it was out of pure coincidence and pure “happening” that he and Tereza fell in love.
Tomas thought he was totally immune to compassion until Tereza infected him with it. He never thought he was able to feel sympathy towards somebody because he was living in his world of lightness. But when Tereza came, she was so helpless that Tomas could not stop himself from feeling sorry and compassionate.
I think we see Tomas getting a bit jealous about the fact the his and Tereza’s love happened out of pure coincidence, and if Tereza had not met him when she did, she could have ended up loving somebody totally different from him. I think he felt a pang of jealousy when Tereza mentions this to him. In a the previous section also, Tomas shows jealousy when Tereza is dancing with another man.
1. It is wright that brings Tomas back to Prague; and I think that he made the right decision. Although he tries to be, in a way, independent from Tereza, he is not able to and he do need her, within all other women, in his life. Before, for him love was only a pleasure, with Tereza, it was feeling.
ReplyDelete2. The three things with weight would be, words, philosophy and emotions. I would not categorize love as a weighted thing because I personally think that love is something very delicate since it cannot be neither too heavy nor too light. The three light things would be drug(alcohol), mouth and compassion. Within these lists, I would chose weighted things since heaviness meant deepness and better understanding. However, this all depends on perspective since many people would have different factors for each categories.
3. I do agree with this quote since it is true that there are so many people out there and there is a limited number of people you could meet within your life. Also, people learn as you grow; when you are younger, you are more likely to make mistakes in choosing your love and you get to know different factors for people. As luck, I think, is a very important thing that our lives depend on and love definitely isn't an exception since it still is a question about meeting different people.
4. “Ess muss sein” means it must be. I think that this quote represents the confusions that Tomas has after Tereza left. Although he is trying to assure himself by repeating this phrase, he is actually unsure and still confused.
5. It describes the luck that pulled Tomas and Tereza together. As it says that they were "lucky" to have met each other and that all was a coincidence.
6. Compassion was something that Tomas felt immune until he met Tereza. Her appearance let him know the compassion since she had nowhere to go when she first arrived to his apartment. He could not stop feeling sorry for her, also when she found out all the letters and could not get away from her nightmares.
7. He feels a little bit of jealousy when she mentions another man with whom she might have fallen in love if she never met Tomas. This just proved the existence of luck in between their love.