Tomas is an excellent surgeon that is well known for his many sexual relations he has with many different woman though keeping them all at arms length to ensure the women do not become attached. By this way of living alone he is practising the philosophy of lightness, which is discussed deeply in the book. Being a divorced man with a child that he does not feel is his responsibility and parents that he does not wish to keep in contact with, he believes that love and sex are completely separate entities and even though he does fall in love which is related to heaviness in the book, he lives with his love, Tereza, however while still seeing his mistresses, especially his favourite, Sabina.
Even though his mysterious intense love for Tereza adds some heaviness to Tomas' character, he still remains in the philosophy of lightness.
Tereza
Tereza represents the other philosophy explored in the book; the philosophy of heaviness or eternal return. This explores the idea that every past action effects the present action and that every action/decision will be repeated, therefore never being able to escape the past. Tereza is forever haunted by her eccentric mother and by Tomas' infidelities, this is shown by the role of nightmares that she experiences almost every night. Her love for Tomas is strong and unmistakeable but brings her much misery and where Tomas and Sabina are 'light', she is 'heavy'.
Tereza is portrayed as to be pure and innocent as Tomas sees their original meeting as Tereza being a "child put in a basket and sent downstream".
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