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
As the months go on, Sunja finds her life in Osaka “luxurious” compared to life in Korea, because she and Kyunghee only have to care for their husbands and themselves. She and Kyunghee continue to develop a close friendship, although whenever they’re together in public, Sunja is aware of her plainness next to her beautiful sister-in-law, and her traditional clothing draws scorn outside of Ikaino.
For the first time in her life, Sunja doesn’t have to work hard every day, and she has the chance to enjoy a sisterly bond. Throughout the book, Lee draws attention to unconventional, “plain” beauty like Sunja’s, as well as the fact that it doesn’t garner public approval like Kyunghee’s more traditional beauty. Kyunghee is able to move more easily within hostile colonial society because of her classic beauty, whereas Sunja is easily pigeonholed as Korean.
Themes
One day as they do the marketing, Sunja tells Kyunghee she feels bad that she and Isak aren’t contributing anything to the household expenses. Kyunghee hushes her, saying they need to be saving up for the baby, but she daydreams aloud about starting a kimchi business at the train station. She explains to Sunja that Yoseb won’t let her work outside the home. Sunja realizes this means that, in Yoseb’s view, a yangban woman shouldn’t work, but it’s fine for a peasant girl like herself. She thinks Kyunghee, who is sad and restless due to her childlessness, would be happier if she could work.
Kyunghee has her share of creative, resourceful ideas, but Yoseb has an old-fashioned, class-focused view of women working outside the home. Because Kyunghee is of upper-class (yangban) blood, Yoseb thinks it’s especially inappropriate for her to work to provide for the household. This is very different from Sunja’s life, as before she moved to Osaka, she never had a choice but to work.
Themes
