A young woman forced to keep drunks supplied with beer and siblings with cleanunderwear–instead of being allowed to pursue something higher –stores up greatreserves of vitality, a vitality never dreamed of by university students yawning over theirbooks. (..) The difference between the universitygraduate and the autodidact lies not so much in the extent of knowledge as in theextent of vitality and self-confidence. The elan with which Tereza flung herself into hernew Prague existence was both frenzied and precarious. She seemed to be expectingsomeone to come up to her any day and say, What are you doing here? Go back whereyou belong!. Milan Kundera
About This Quote

In her memoir, Tereza, a young woman from Prague has to escape from her family’s home when she is forced to marry a man whom she does not know. She is sent to a boarding school in England, where she meets and falls in love with a man named Jan. However, Jan is killed by the Nazis during the World War II and Tereza has to start over again in Paris. This time, she moves in with her aunt and uncle and starts her own business.

Her aunt and uncle eventually leave for England and Tereza has to brave Paris alone. She learns that her uncle was killed during the war and that he was working for the British Army when he was killed by the Nazis. This event causes her to feel strongly about not just revenge but justice as well.

She sets out on a quest to find out what happened to him and track down his killers herself.

Source: The Unbearable Lightness Of Being

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