In the Philosophical novel set in Czechoslovakia under the communist regime, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, the narrator uses four main characters to portray the ideas presented. Two characters Franz and Sabina have an extremely complex relationship, including the situation in which Franz is married and Sabina is also the mistress to another man. Instead of including descriptive details about the characters, the author creates a “Short Dictionary of Misunderstood Words” between Franz and Sabina which contains allegories to highlight the problems within their relationship by the themes of communication, power and relationships and identity. The two characters have different pasts and understandings of most words such as woman and their philosophies on light and darkness. Kundera uses the dictionary to highlight how, within their relationship, Franz and Sabina understand words differently because of the fact that their personal philosophies are so distinct.

The dictionary in The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a series of words and ideas that are misunderstood between two characters Sabina and Franz. In the beginning of Kundera’s novel, the narrator states, "If I were to make a record of all of Sabina and Franz ' conversations, I could compile a long lexicon of their misunderstandings. Let us be content, instead, with a short dictionary" (Kundera, 89). Because the author’s characters are so complex, to give specific detail for each of their personal