tULoB part six - the grand march...

The first few chapters of part six are mainly philosophical, and are from the writers point of view, talking and arguing about God, his intestines, and shit. From here Kundera moves on to Kitsch, and Sabinas views of it. It follows Sabina’s life after Franz, and how her life is still surrounded by kitsch, and also how she’s still affected by here past in Prague, and the events that took places there. Now in America, she lives with an elderly couple, who consider her like a daughter to them, but she contemplates if she is with them due to the kitsch-ness of it, and whether or not she has been craving for this all the time she has been running and scorning kitsch. Franz’ interpretation of Kitsch is slightly different, as he is more familiar to totalitarian kitsch, such as the kitsch he experiences whilst on the grand march. The grand march takes place in Cambodia, where the doctors and intellectuals march on the borders, wanting to be let in to help the wounded. However, the Americans and the European countries seem to clash over this, as the American celebrities try to use the march as a publicity stunt, and try to turn the march into a battle against communism rather than an attempt to tend to the people affected by it. However, the march is not successful, and is halted at the border by a wall of silence, a group of doctors, intellectuals, celebrities and paparazzi all stood waiting to be let in, yet no reply to their challenge was ever given. On the way back, the bus stops in Bangkok, and Franz, in an attempt to prove himself brave to the Sabina, whom he still believes is watching over him, takes on a group of men, who end up mugging him and beating him unconscious. Once he awakes, he finds himself in a hospital bed, with Marie-Claude at his side. When he tells her to go away, however, he finds himself paralysed, unable to move except his eyelids. Now he was completely in Marie-Claude’s control. Franz dies, and Marie-Claude completely arranges his funeral, and seems to forgive him for leaving her, and twists all his actions into things that make him sound like a good person, if not slightly depressed. The part ends with the reader being told that “before we are forgotten, we become kitsch”. Death is kitsch.
Themes

• kitsch
• God and religion
• shame
• creation
• shit
• parades
• happiness
• reality vs dreaming
• politians and the public eye
• death
• freedom
• lightness and weight
• a need to be seen
• dreamers
• misinterpretations of words and actions

Characters

• Sabina, now having moved on from Franz, is still living in fear and resentment of kitsch, despite the fact that her life at the moment is still very kitsch, as she herself admits. She finds that although she ran away from her home and the history there, she still cannot escape it, for example, the smile of a polititian reminds her of the smiles on a communist statemans face, when he surveyed all the faces standing below him. Sabina finds that Simon, Tomas' son, is still trying to keep in contact with her, and although she leaves most of the letters unread, he keeps writing till the end of her life. Sabinas wish for when she dies is that shes cremated, and her ashes scattered, so she can remain free and unburdened even in death
• Franz still seems to conect all his thoughts and actions to what Sabina would think of them, depsite the fact that she left him a long time ago, and that hes now living with a new mistress, a shy girl with big glasses. At first, when asked if he wants to participate in the march, he wishes to, but doesnt because he knows it will hurt his mistress. However, once he remembers Sabina, he believes that she would think him cowardly for not going, and so he decides to, showing that he still places her above all others. Franz seems to become heavier and heavier throughout this part, and once at the gates of the border to Cambodia, he even considers dieing as Stalins son did, laying down his live to make a statement. But he decides not to, and instead ends up dieing due to his mugging in Bangkok, again because by taking on the three men, he thought he was doing what Sabina would want him to do.

Other thoughts

What does Kundera have against the Americans? they dont seem to be show in a very good light throughout this part. Also, it seems at this point that Kundera is still undecided about which is better, lightness of weight, as everyone seems to be unhappy with life at the moment