What are the motifs in The Joke by Milan Kundera?

Redemption is a recurring idea in the book. For many of the characters in the novel, their lives change significantly at some point. Each is given a kind of hardship that they must recover from and their reaction to the event spins their life in a new direction. In the case of Lucie, for example, she was attacked and raped repeatedly by men that she had previously considered her friends and protectors. Although she languishes for years, she finds freedom after her long talks with Kostka and restores her belief in physical love after finding a man that appreciates her as a person (rather than Jahn who appreciates only the benefits she can provide him within the environment he is currently suffering in).