The Hitchhiking Game (Themes)

Themes

Virgin/Whore Dichotomy

Central to the relationship between the young man and the young woman in “The Hitchhiking Game” is the historical way in which women have been categorized as either “virgins” or “whores.” Through art, literature, and other elements of Western or European culture, women have often been judged based on their sexual behavior as either “virgins,” and therefore “pure,” or “whores,” and therefore shameful, dirty, and sinful. In more colloquial terms, this “virgin/whore dichotomy” has been referred to as the “good girl’V’bad girl” split.

Both the young man and the young women view all women in terms of these categories. At the beginning of the story, they both see the young woman as falling into the category of “good girl.” Although she is not technically a virgin, her shyness, embarrassment and general sexual repression place her in this category. For the young woman, this is a source of insecurity, as she fears she is not sufficiently sexually exciting to please her boyfriend. For the young man, on the other hand, this characteristic is what draws him to her, as he distinguishes her from all other women he’s encountered as “pure.” Based on this central theme, “The Hitchhiking Game” explores the consequences for their relationship when the young woman takes on the “role” of “bad girl,” in the context of a playful “game.” Through this story, Kundera seems to confirm the criticism launched by many feminists that the “virgin/whore” dichotomy is an unfair way to categorized women, with dire consequences for male-female relationships.

Jealousy

Jealousy is a central theme in the relationship between the young man and the young women. As a result of their role-playing “game,” however, the role of jealousy in their relationship shifts dramatically.

In the beginning of the story, the young woman is jealous of other women because she knows that her boyfriend has had many casual sexual relationships. She fears that, because sheis not as sexually expressive as other women, she cannot offer him the excitement he finds in these women. She fears she will one day lose him to a woman he finds more sexually alluring. For the man, at the beginning of the story, this sexual jealousy is an irritation.

As the “game” progresses, however, the young woman’s jealousy slips away, while the young man’s increases. Because she is taking on the “role” of a seductive woman looking for a casual sexual encounter, the young woman feels that she can finally give her boyfriend the sexual excitement she thought he could only get from other women. She therefore loses her jealousy of other women. From the young man’s perspective, on the other hand, seeing his girlfriend in the role of seductress brings feelings of jealousy he had not had before. He imagines that if she can behave seductively toward him, she must be capable of doing so with other men. His increasing jealousy at the thought of her seducing a man other than himself in part builds his growing sense of disdain toward her, as the “game” progresses.

Games

A central theme of “The Hitchhiking Game” is the “game” itself. The “hitchhiking game” begins spontaneously when the couple jokingly pretend that she is a hitchhiker he has picked up along the road. Kundera explores the ways in which “games” between people can become expressions of hidden thoughts and feelings that structure a relationship. For the young woman, the “game” allows her to get in touch with her own repressed sexuality by giving her an excuse to behave in seductive ways she would normally find embarrassing and uncomfortable. For the young man, the “game” places him in a role he has often occupied, that of a man seeking out a casual sexual relationship with a woman he does not know, respect or care about. While this role-playing “game” is at first liberating to the young woman, it ultimately reveals the deep hatred the young man feels for female sexuality. When he sees his girlfriend in this new light as a sexually expressive woman, he considers her no better than a “whore” and treats her as such.

Topics for Further Study

• Many of Kundera’s stories are set in Czechoslovakia in the second half of the Twentieth Century. Learn more about the political history of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) since World War II. What major political and social upheavals has the country experienced? How has the country’s political climate affected the life and work of Kundera? How are the social, political, and economic conditions of the nation different now from the time in which “The Hitchhiking Game” was first written and published?
• The greatest Czech fiction writer of the first half of the Twenthieth Century was Franz Kafka. Learn more about the life and work of Kafka and the social and political climate in which he wrote. Like Kundera, Kafka’s work was also banned in his own country — although not until years after his death. Pick one of Kafka’s short stories to read. How can his life and work be illuminated by understanding the historical context in which he lived and worked?
• Vaclav Havel and Miroslav Holub are both well-known Czech writers of Kundera’s generation. Learn more about the life and work of either Havel or Holub. How were his experiences and choices as a writer in the same political climate as Kundera different from, or similar to, those of Kundera? In what ways did these experiences affect his poetry?
• The government-sanctioned style of literature during much of Kundera’s lifetime was “socialist realism.” What are the basic aesthetic and political principles of the “socialist realist” style in writing? In other art forms? What is the history of the “socialist realist” style?
• Read another one of Kundera’s stories in the collection Laughable Loves, (in which “The Hitchhiking Game” appeared). It what ways does it explore similar themes to those explored in “The Hitchhiking Game”?