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 weeks go on, Sunja takes meals to the jail every morning, even though she doesn’t know for sure if Isak receives them. Isak’s things have been confiscated, their church has been shut down, and the police occasionally question the family. Even the Presbyterian Church has determined that participation in the Shinto ceremonies is a civic duty, not a religious one. Pastor Yoo believed it was a pagan and idolatrous rite, but he had encouraged his flock to participate anyway, believing that to do otherwise would invite certain death.
Pastor Yoo’s and the Presbyterian authorities’ position is a good example of Lee’s argument that sometimes neither resistance nor compromise is a tenable option for people struggling under imperial pressures. Pastor Yoo is convinced that the required bowing at the Shinto shrine is unacceptable for Christians, but he can’t ask his people to refrain, knowing that they’ll almost certainly be arrested and possibly die behind bars—resulting in the church being wiped out. This is similar to Yoseb’s assertion that he understands survival and family, but not death in service of an abstract cause.
Themes
Even Yoseb has to concede that, with Isak imprisoned, the household is desperate for cash, so he allows Sunja to peddle kimchi in Ikaino’s open-air market, as long as Kyunghee does the cooking from home. When Sunja arrives at the market with her cart, the other ajummas are rude to her. She’s relegated to an undesirable spot beside a butcher. She tries to remember what the market ajummas did back in Korea. She shouts to attract customers to her cart, but she feels mortified. At last the friendly Japanese butcher buys a serving of kimchi and praises the food, encouraging Sunja.
Under the circumstances, even Yoseb softens somewhat in his attitudes about the women working. Sunja feels exposed, lonely, and awkward as a novice ajumma, but, like her mother before her, she does what she has to do in order to support her loved ones. She also draws on memories of the women merchants in the markets back home for strength and guidance. Notably, it’s a Japanese man—in the butchering profession, which is viewed as unclean—who shows kindness to Sunja and encourages her.
Themes
As the day goes on, Sunja gains confidence in hawking kimchi, imagining herself joining the company of market women she’s been around for her entire life. By evening, she succeeds in selling the whole jar of kimchi, and soon, she’s able to sell as much as she and Kyunghee can make. She starts taking a second cart with a coal stove to the market to sell roasted vegetables, homemade candy, and other snacks.
One day, a few months later, a man named Kim Changho approaches Sunja’s cart as she’s selling candy and asks her when she’ll have kimchi again. He explains that he manages the yakiniku (barbecue) restaurant near the train station and has heard about her excellent kimchi. He gives her his business card and promises to buy all the kimchi she and Kyunghee can make and procure scarce cabbage for them; they can even cook at his restaurant.
News of Sunja’s and Kyunghee’s excellent food seems to have spread beyond the market. At first, the significance of his offer doesn’t sink in for Sunja; she’s mainly attracted by the prospect of getting hard-to-find ingredients more easily. In any case, Kim’s offer sounds almost too good to be true.
Themes
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Sunja and Kyunghee take their cart, and a few weeks’ worth of kimchi, to the restaurant. If Kim Changho follows through on his promise, they’ll have a steady income, and lonely Noa, who’s teased at school for smelling like garlic, might have an easier time. Kyunghee, scared to defy Yoseb, waits outside with baby Mozasu; Sunja has to go in alone.
Kim’s job offer would potentially solve multiple problems for the family, who are suffering in many ways from Isak’s imprisonment and their marginalized position. Kyunghee is still worried about upsetting her husband, though, so Sunja has to take the next steps by herself.
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