Part 5, Chapters 7-9 Summary

Kundera reviews Tomas's move to Prague, his mantra "Es muss sein" and his decision to leave medicine. He questions Tomas's motives for leaving medicine. After all, except for Tereza, who was the product of the six coincidences, medicine was his reason for being.

Tomas meditated on the line "Es muss sein," but he did not know its origin or intention, other than it was a line from a Beethoven movement. The line came about when a Dembscher who owed Beethoven was asked to pay and said "Muss es sein?" (Must it be?) To which Beethoven replied "Es muss sein." (It must be) Kundera says the German language can be very heavy in meaning, and Beethoven turned this rather insignificant event and lines into "a serious quartet, a joke into a metaphysical truth." Kundera points out how this is an...