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
The following spring, Akiko, who’s training to be a sociologist, won’t stop asking Noa questions about his family. Noa resents her curiosity. Akiko is especially curious about Hansu, but Noa doesn’t think it’s appropriate for them to meet.
Noa resents being made to feel like a subject of study for Akiko. It seems as if she’s more interested in him as a Korean than simply as a person.
Themes
Noa meets monthly with Hansu over a fancy meal of sushi. Hansu, who never went to university, asks him questions about his studies. He’s trying to “nurture” Noa into something of his own making after graduation, though he’s not yet sure what he wants him to be. Noa, on the other hand, doesn’t really enjoy the luxurious meals; he prefers to eat like a “working Korean,” eating tasty food quickly for fuel, not like an upper-class Japanese, lingering over exotic dishes.
Among the parents in the novel, Hansu is no exception in desiring his son to fulfill dreams that he himself was never able to fulfill. In fact, even more than the others, he wants to sculpt Noa into his own ideal, looking at him as a project; he has his own interests at stake in funding his son’s education. While Noa is able to replicate the habits of wealthy Japanese, he doesn’t feel comfortable with them, and he’s very aware of his “Korean” preferences in this area.
Themes
To Noa’s surprise, Akiko comes to the restaurant and invites herself into his private meal with Hansu. She claims Noa had insisted on her dropping by to meet his benefactor. Hansu is pleased, but Noa uncomfortably goes along with the lie.
Already feeling tense toward Akiko after that morning’s conversation, Noa is even more put off by her presumption; she puts him in an awkward position by barging into his regular private meeting with Hansu.
Themes
