The Joke

Kostka’s section of The Joke introduces a new perspective. Most of the characters do not believe in God or religion; they live in an atheistic communist society, and even if they do believe in God, that belief does not affect their life enough to appear in their narration. Kostka, on the other hand, is unabashedly Christian. Just as he refused to deny his religion during the early days of the revolution, he refuses to deny his religion when narrating his story. In this way, he provides an important contrast to Ludvik. Kostka has known Ludvik for many years, and they have debated the existence of God, with neither man able to convince the other of their position. Kostka’s faith provides an alternative mode of existence to Ludvik’s listless alienation. Ludvik once believed in politics, only to be exiled from the Party for a misconstrued joke. He has lost his faith in ideology, while Kostka’s faith in religion has endured through the tumultuous events of post-revolutionary Czechoslovakia. Kostka maintains his faith even though it has harmed his career and his social status. He never doubted his belief, even after being socially exiled by the Party. Kostka’s existence and faith provide a counterpoint to Ludvik’s perspective and goals, right at a moment in the narrative when his burning desire for revenge has backfired.

Kostka’s past also helps contextualize Ludvik’s relationships. In earlier chapters, Ludvik spoke at length about his formative relationship with Lucie. He tried to pressure her into having sex with him and convinced himself that he loved her, only to be abandoned by her. Ludvik has clung to a memory of Lucie ever since. As Kostka’s narrative shows, this memory of Lucie is an Artificial Past that Ludvik has constructed for himself. Ludvik only knew a small part of her character and past. He does not know about the abuse she endured before she met him, nor why this abuse might make her reticent to have sex with him. Ludvik is a self-centered man who struggles to empathize with the subjective lived experiences of other people. Lucie is important to him because she entered his life at a particular moment. She did not give him what he wanted, and he has carried an idea of squandered potential regarding their relationship ever since. To Ludvik, Lucie represents what might have been, though only from his misogynistic viewpoint. By never really knowing Lucie, he has not contended with how his unwanted sexual advances parallel her childhood abuse. These new details reemphasize Ludvik’s moral ambiguity.

Kostka understands Lucie very differently. He is gentle and sympathetic toward her, introducing her to religion and allowing her to gradually open up to him. He learns about her past and gains a far better understanding of her than Ludvik ever could. Despite Ludvik’s claims that he can never forget Lucie, for example, he has to be told by Kostka that she is the woman who cut his hair. The men’s contrasting relationships with Lucie further demonstrate Ludvik’s alienation, which has deepened to the extent that he struggles with empathy and cannot relate to other people in any other way than how they affect his thoughts and desires. Ludvik’s alienation stems in part from his preoccupation with the artificial pasts he has created to explain his life and the people around him. Based on his feelings and his biased, incomplete understanding of Lucie, Ludvik has invented a story that explains a part of his life. By contrast, Kostka learns and accepts Lucie’s actual past and identity. To Ludvik, Lucie is a failed relationship. To Kostka, she is an abused woman who deserves sympathy.

After Kostka rejects Lucie’s romantic advances, she finds herself a husband and settles in the same town. Kostka and everyone else seem to know that Lucie is being abused by her husband. Rather than blame her husband, however, Kostka blames himself. He shoulders a burden of responsibility for the abuse of other people, feeling as though he has let Lucie down. This, again, contrasts with Ludvik, who barely acknowledges the emotional damage he may have inflicted on Lucie. The community’s acknowledgment of Lucie’s abuse follows a similar pattern of resentful alienation as Ludvik’s misfortune. No one feels empowered to stop it as they do not want to intrude on the private lives of others. Instead, they pretend not to know. This public performance of willful ignorance is an important part of the Performance of Identity that forms the core of social life. No one wants to be viewed as meddling or controversial. Instead, secrets are buried or ignored. People’s alienation is deepened by their refusal to acknowledge the suffering that is taking place beneath the surface of every social interaction and because of the pressure to perform the identities that are expected of them.