The Masculism of “The Unbearable Lightness ofBeing”

The Masculism of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and the Feminism of “The Time of Doves”. Masculism is a school of thought which has a prepossession with the female as a sex object, believes in the superiority of the male, and the subjection of the female. One may argue that because “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was authored by Milan Kundera, a man who had male chauvinist sympathies. On the other hand, Feminism stood for the liberation of the woman from male control, the validation of her personhood, and the de- glamourization of femininity and motherhood. Merce Rodoreda in her novel “The Time of Doves” is an argument for feminism as she intersperses messages which convey feminist ideals. Hence both novels show the polarization of masculism and feminism in the perpetual battle of the sexes and touch on gender roles in European society. The Masculism of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” is manifest in three components: the objectification of the woman, the subjectivity of the woman, and authoritarian control of the male. Objectification of the woman arises in many instances in the novel, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” through several mentions of the pornography industry, private male fantasies, and the sexual relationships among the protagonists. Women are often depicted naked while the male’s eye fixates on them. They become objects of desire and sex toys instead of being validated as individuals with penetration of thought, and independent minds. Tereza submits some nude photographs of herself to a magazine which portrays scantily clad or naked women, Tereza’s mother constantly flaunts her nude body in the house, Tereza’s nightmare of naked Women, singing and marching around a pool before a man resurges repeatedly (18). She has other nightmares which haunt her memory of dead, female, naked bodies in a pool and in the trunk of a hearse. Tereza also fantasizes having sex with her husband, Tomas, in front of the cameras in a studio. Her rival, Sabina, parades her naked body before Tomas to seduce him at her home. As a waitress, a stereotypical female job with sexual desire and objectification, Tereza “had an irresistible desire to expose her body” (142). Women corporate with men in fulfilling sexual desire and they delight to cater to their every whim and fancy. The subjectivity of the woman is her preferred role in the novel since she is at the beck and call of the male. Tereza has a nightmare of Tomas giving orders to women to sing and walk around a pool (18) while Sabina and Tereza are joined by Tomas’ command “Strip!” (66). Tereza loves Tomas so much that “she was constitutionally unable to disobey Tomas” (147). Kundera says that “in the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down ... - tailieumienphi.vn