Although they are physically united in an erotic partnership, Tomas and Tereza possess very different attitudes about love and relationships. Their differing perspectives are summed up in the subtitle of Section 2 of Kundera's novel, "Body and Soul." Tereza wants to possess Tomas, body and soul, and Tomas wishes to yield neither completely to Tereza. In the second section, Tereza is first characterized in terms of her hunger; her rumbling stomach represents her insatiable physical craving for Tomas. "When we ignore the body we are more easily victimized by it" (39).
             Tereza has long been ignored by people in her life, by her parents, by friends. Tomas, in contrast, has a strong sense of identity in his artistic gifts, and views his past romantic difficulties with cool, almost clinical detachment. His memory of his failed marriage leaves little impact upon his current existence; he seems to regard it as insignificant, while Tereza is almost entirely defined, and consumed by her relationship with others.
             Tereza's past was defined by absence and hunger, while Tomas' past is defined by detachment. Tereza's father was emotionally absent, then dead: "the most manly of men became the most downcast" and expired (41). From a young age, Tereza has been taught that being a mother, being a woman in love means "sacrificing everything" and to be a woman, a daughter was "Guilt," personified with a capital G (45). Her mother rejected her, a rejection just as devastating as her father's death. Thus Tereza's hunger for Tomas is complete and paralyzing because he seems like the first person who has truly cared about her, ever in her life.
             Tereza's longing for Tomas makes her forget about food and when her stomach rubles in his presence, she feels "as though she were carrying her mother in her stomach and her mother had guffawed to spoil her meeting wit...