January 26, 2002 Essay regarding The Unbearable Lightness of Being
             A connection between fellow humans is something that all of humankind desires. Every emotion that is expressed whether it is of hate or love is an attempt to connect with another human being. Somewhere deep down, humans feel better when someone acknowledges his or her existence with a returned projection. Humans are, as Aristotle put it, "political animals." Milan Kundera's novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being observes the issue of human connection. The interactions of the characters are thoroughly illustrated throughout the book in order for the reader to better comprehend this human condition. Kundera uses imagery to paint his character's striving for human connections, but despite the character's labors, they seem to fall short of making any connections. Kundera seems to ask the reader, is there an opportunity for bonds among humans, or is man to bear the weight, or if the case presents itself, the lightness of the world? Kundera attempts to compel the reader to analyze this question, and upon answering it, if the answer allows connections, which is better, to be with or without human connection.
             A philosophical and ethical movement that occurred mainly in the early to mid twentieth century proclaimed that the answer that Kundera has proposed is "no." This theory is called existentialism, and one of its qualities is that man is not able to truly connect or communicate with another human being. Jean-Paul Sartre was a profound advocate of existentialism, and in an essay entitled "Absolute Freedom" he wrote, "...for from the instant of my upsurge into being, I carry the weight of the world by myself alone without anything or any person being able to lighten it." In Kundera's novel, he goes back and forth debating whether it is better to exist in extreme lightness or in extreme
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