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
Baek Isak sleeps through the whole next day. The coal man, Jun, stops by for his payment and chats with Yangjin about the mysterious new boarder. He helped Isak find the boardinghouse the night before and explains that Isak is a Protestant minister, “the kind that marries,” and is on his way to join his brother in Japan.
Isak’s Christian faith is another thing that makes him an outsider, since Christianity is a minority religion in Korea, and even more so in Japan, at this time. Under colonial rule, some Koreans immigrated to Japan in search of better work opportunities, as Isak’s brother Yoseb has done.
Themes
A week ago, Sunja had confessed to Yangjin that she is pregnant, and that the baby’s father won’t marry her. Nobody else knows, but Sunja and her mother haven’t spoken since. But when they notice that the unconscious Isak has coughed up blood, they realize he probably has tuberculosis and must be moved to a separate room. Isak silently curses himself for having exposed the household to harm.
Because of Hoonie’s death from tuberculosis, the signs of the disease would be instantly recognizable, and fearful, for the women. Interestingly, the idea of Isak possibly tainting the family will be disproven by his later actions.
Themes
