Point of View

Throughout the novel, the point of view is held by the main characters within the particular vignette. The point of view can easily change, however, while a character's story is being told. For this reason, we can get another perspective on the story at times. For example, while Tamina's story is being told, the storyline abruptly stops so Kundera can tell a story about a historical event. In this way, the characters are given more realism. While juxtaposing them next to a historical event that took place in Czech, the character of Tamina has a backdrop that makes her both more concrete to the reader, as well as highlighting a bit of the culture that surrounds her.

Kundera is very self-aware throughout the novel. For example, he will describe Mirek's relationship with his destiny on page 14 and immediately start the next paragraph with "Please understand me...