Pachinko

Sunja, like her mother, has also sacrificed greatly for her family. When her husband, Isak, is imprisoned, she makes plans to go out into the market, selling kimchi, despite her fears and her embarrassment. She is determined not to come home until she has sold the whole jar. Unlike her mother, she questions the need to perpetuate the belief that a women’s life is a life of suffering. When she meets Phoebe, Solomon’s Korean-American girlfriend, she thinks that suffering “was the last thing she wanted for this sweet girl who had a quick, warm smile for everyone” (451).

Sunja also refuses to conform to traditional feminine values that Yoseb insists on for Kyunghee. She has worked all her life, always ready to financially sustain her family. She is a shrewd bargainer when she sells Hansu’s watch, refusing to accept a low price. She has learned the Korean motto, “Save your family. Feed your belly” (174). She epitomizes the family trait of resiliency that has allowed this family to survive for generations. 

Hansu was born poor and survived “through foraging, hunting, and petty theft” (37). Only when he was “adopted” by a Japanese gangster (or, “yakuza”) did he begin to gain power and prestige. He marries his boss’s daughter, whom he eventually resents because of how she has corrupted their daughters by neglecting their education. So he feels no guilt in having an affair with Sunja and sees nothing wrong with the idea of setting her up as a mistress. He cannot understand why this would be distasteful to Sunja, as he is not bound by conventional morality. His poor origins make him tough and practical, and his increasing power makes him even more so. This practicality makes him suspicious of traditions and authority. He will do only what benefits him. He tries to share this idea with both Sunja and with Kim. He tells Sunja that she must focus on her family and tells Kim not to get caught up in politics, saying, “I want you to think about promoting your own interests no matter what” (229).

Despite this self-interest, Hansu does seem to love Sunja and does what he can to help her and her family survive the war. He wants his son, Noa, to have all the advantages of education because he believes people should always be learning, as knowledge is power. He is disgusted with his daughters, who have wasted their minds, and impressed with Noa’s desire to learn.

Sunja cannot help but be seduced by the well-dressed, well-composed Hansu who demands respect from everyone, even the Japanese boys that threaten her at the beginning of the book.

Hansu’s practicality stands in strong contrast to Isak’s naïve idealism. When Isak immigrates from Korea to Japan and meets the pastor he will work with, he realizes he hasn’t even asked what his salary would be and is shocked to find the salary so low. Isak’s virtue is a powerful symbol to Noa, Sunja, and his whole community. He is remembered as a martyr, sacrificed for his faith. His beaten body is Christlike in its symbolism, and his final words call not for revenge but for living a good life.

Like his father, Noa loves school and reading. When he makes it to the university and is allowed to study literature, reading and writing for most of his days, he cannot believe how lucky he is. In addition to being studious, he has a strong desire to be accepted, and wants to be seen as a “good Korean.” Losing his father at an early age, he came to idealize Isak. When he finds out that Hansu is his birth father, Noa is devastated to be so intimately connected to such a “bad Korean.” He breaks with his family in a desire to sever all shameful connections and remakes his life by moving to Nagano. Noa takes his own life after an unplanned visit from his mother. 

Mozasu, ironically, is less like Isak, his father, and more like Hansu, Noa’s birth father, at least in his ability to translate his practicality into success. He hates school but is very good at the pachinko business, a business that many scorn but ends up making Mozasu a millionaire. Like Hansu, he wants his son to have a more honorable profession, one that others admire, and he wants his son to get an international education that will open up opportunities. Unlike Hansu (and his brother Noa), however, he does not keep secrets and he does not act simply out of self-interest. He is very open about his feelings, first with his wife, Yumi, and then with Etsuko. He is devoted not only to his family but also to his workers, often paying for their weddings, their children’s tuition fees, and their funerals, and rarely spending anything on himself.