How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph), with the exception of Part V, which runs (Part#. "Short Title". Paragraph). Part V has no numbered chapters—only title headings.
Quote #7
She had the smile of a woman who knows that on her, even a red nose is charming. She lived in exemplary harmony with herself. She loved her nose, and she also loved the audacity with which she called a cold a cold and a nose a cauliflower. The unconventional beauty of her red nose thus complemented her intellectual audacity, and the circular course of her thumb...expressed the indivisible unity of her personality. (VII.3.4)
Kundera describes Hanna the actress, a woman who is secure in her beauty and her effect on everyone in the world. She's clearly used to having the focus of attention on her, even when she's not looking or feeling her best. (Her missing son doesn't really seem to affect her ability to attend parties or to entertain friends.) Hanna is pretty much a star in her own orbit—she doesn't get pulled into any of the messy relationships that populate Kundera's novel.
Quote #8
Encouraged by her parents' applause, the girl went on: "Do you think we take off our tops to give you pleasure? We do it for ourselves, because we like it, because it feels better, because it brings our bodies nearer the sun! You're only capable of seeing us as sex objects!" (VII.4.11)
The Clevises' precocious daughter has a lot to say on the subject of the female body. She's just weighed in with her opinion on whether or not women should be allowed to sunbathe topless on public beaches, and she continues a bit further than Mama or Papa think she should.
Kundera says that this kind of talk out of the young lady's mouth makes everyone uncomfortable because she's so extremely young—why should she even know about "sex objects"? The answer is pretty obvious—sex, not to mention talk about women's bodies, is everywhere.
Quote #9
Less well known is that a woman is not entirely defenseless against that gaze. If she is turned into a thing, then she watches the man with the gaze of a thing. It is as if a hammer suddenly had eyes and watched the carpenter grip it to drive in a nail. Seeing the hammer's malicious gaze, the carpenter loses his self-confidence and hits his thumb. (VII.8.2)
Kundera wants to take on the academic discussion about the male gaze (that objectifying stare employed by men against women) and turn it to the subject of the female gaze. In his opinion, the gaze of a woman who's not interested in succumbing to the power of the male gaze is absolutely devastating to men. We're not entirely sure if Kundera is serious in his hammer/carpenter analogy, or about the power of the female gaze, but we give him full points for originality on this one.