Symbolism In The Unbearable Lightness Of Being

Catarina Botto
World Literature: The use of symbols to portray characters in A Hero of Our Time and The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

In the novels The Unbearable Lightness of Being and A Hero of Our Time, the two authors use symbols to represent certain characters. In both books these symbols are used as extended metaphors, by doing this the authors allow the reader to have a better understanding of the character, their personality, attitudes and relationships. To do this, however, the two authors use different approaches. In Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being he uses symbols to reflect his protagonist’s two lovers, he does this by consistently associating them to specific objects that they relate to. On the other hand
In order to get Bela, Pechorin had to go to her brother and make a deal in which he would give her Bela if Pechorin stole a horse for him. Throughout the novel there are various references in which women and horses are compared, for example when “you speak about woman as if she were an English thoroughbred” or “breeding women as in horses”. These frequent comparisons already give the idea that Pechorin sees women the same way he sees horses, these then become more specific when talking about Bela and the parallels build. First of all as she is traded for a horse, it shows that is the value that is given to her by both her brother and her lover. Pechorin then continues to describing her beauty by referring to it when he sees a horse with “Eyes as fine as Bela’s”. After she moves in with him and they become lovers, this parallel also reflects their relationship as he begins to treat her much like he would treat an animal, using vocabulary such as “petted and fondled her” and referring to her as “entertainment”. Her personality also reinforces this image as despite him mistreating her she continues to please him and stay loyal, much like a pet would and much how Kazbich’s horse is