Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Pachinko, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Survival and Family
Imperialism, Resistance, and Compromise
Identity, Blood, and Contamination
Love, Motherhood, and Women’s Choices
Summary
Analysis
At the turn of the twentieth century, on the small Korean island of Yeongdo, an aging fisherman and his wife begin taking in lodgers for extra money. The couple has one son, Hoonie, who has a cleft palate and a twisted foot. In 1910, Japan annexes Korea. When their rent goes up, the couple moves out of their bedroom and sleeps in an anteroom to make space for more lodgers.
Hoonie’s parents raise him to be “clever and diligent” because they don’t know who will care for him after they’re gone. One day, when Hoonie is 28, the village matchmaker visits his mother. Impressed by the relative prosperity of the boardinghouse, the matchmaker thinks that even Hoonie can find a healthy bride. She suggests Yangjin, a young girl from an impoverished family on the other side of the island. Hearing all this, Hoonie’s mother tries to keep herself calm.
Because of Hoonie’s birth defects, he and his parents expected him to be unmarriageable. But he is intelligent and hardworking, and his family runs a successful business, so with many Koreans struggling under colonial rule, he is considered to be a good match after all.
Themes
Soon, Hoonie and Yangjin are quietly married. After losing several children, Yangjin gives birth to Sunja, a daughter, who thrives. Hoonie treasures and dotes on the girl. When Sunja is 13, Hoonie dies of tuberculosis, and his wife and daughter are shattered. However, the next morning, Yangjin gets up as usual and goes to work.
Hoonie and Yangjin have a happy marriage, but their union is marked by sorrow until Sunja comes along. Hoonie’s death devastates both women, but Yangjin does what is necessary—continuing to provide for her family in the midst of heartache.
Themes
