Courage to Liberty

The coercive tactics that the individual must face under totalitarian regimes are explicitly highlighted in a single scene of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The protagonist Tomas is asked by his son and a newspaper editor to sign a petition on behalf of Czech political prisoners. Tomas signed the letter against his willingness because he does not want to be despised as a coward by his son. This is a picture that may look familiar to Chinese intellectuals today.