Pachinko

Pachinko

by

Min Jin Lee

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Pachinko: Book 3, Chapter 21 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Phoebe seems almost “unruffled” by the news of Solomon’s firing. She tells Solomon that she’d never liked Kazu’s phony, fraternity boy act. Solomon thinks she’s just prejudiced against the Japanese. Phoebe asks if they can move back to the United States; she hints that there are multiple ways to get citizenship. When Solomon doesn’t respond, she immediately starts packing.
Phoebe hints that Solomon should marry her so that he can become a U.S. citizen. Even though everyone else seems to want them to get married, Solomon evidently doesn’t, and Phoebe finally realizes this. Without the prospect of marriage, Phoebe sees no reason to stick around.
Themes
Love, Motherhood, and Women’s Choices Theme Icon
Solomon had loved Phoebe’s confidence when they were at Columbia, but against the backdrop of Japan, she just seems aloof, and her emotional extremes seem too stark. He’s also tired of her obsession with Japan’s historical evils. Many of the most significant people in Solomon’s life have been Japanese—Etsuko, Hana, and Haruki. In a way, he feels Japanese himself; there’s “more to being something than just blood.” Phoebe will never understand this, so they have to break up.
In Japan, Solomon’s and Phoebe’s cultural differences come out more starkly than they did in America, and they don’t get along as well. Solomon belongs in Japan in a way that Phoebe never could, and in a way that earlier generations of his family couldn’t, either. This sense of belonging confirms Sunja’s belief that blood can’t determine everything about a person’s identity, though when she left Korea so many years ago, she wouldn’t have imagined or sought the kind of life Solomon has achieved.
Themes
Imperialism, Resistance, and Compromise Theme Icon
Identity, Blood, and Contamination Theme Icon
Love, Motherhood, and Women’s Choices Theme Icon
Solomon goes to his father’s office and says that he wants to work for him. Mozasu is shocked; he’d sent Solomon to Columbia so that this wouldn’t happen. He has never wanted anyone to look down on his son. Mozasu thought that people would respect him if he became rich. He doesn’t want Solomon to have to fight for respect in that way. But Solomon picks up a ledger from Mozasu’s desk and asks him to explain it. Finally, Mozasu does.
Mozasu worked all his life so that Solomon wouldn’t face the kinds of limitations and scorn that he did. He’s devastated when it appears that all of that effort has been for nothing. But for Solomon, working for his father isn’t solely an act of defeat, but an acknowledgment of what Hana had told him—that his father is a respectable man who shouldn’t be viewed in light of society’s prejudices.
Themes
Survival and Family Theme Icon
Imperialism, Resistance, and Compromise Theme Icon
Identity, Blood, and Contamination Theme Icon
Sunja, who’s now 73, still dreams about Hansu and wishes she’d forgotten him by now. She also still visits Isak’s grave, finding him more approachable in death than in life. The week after Solomon is fired, she takes the train to Osaka to clean Isak’s grave and speak to him. As she sits crying next to his grave, the groundskeeper, Uchida, comes over to talk to her. He tells Sunja that Noa used to visit Isak’s grave, right up until 1978. He is sad to hear that Noa is dead. He says that Noa used to bring him copies of Charles Dickens’s works in translation and had even offered to send him to school. He encourages Sunja to attend night school so that she can learn to read, too. Sunja smiles at him, then finishes cleaning the grave and goes home to Kyunghee.
Both of the men Sunja has loved are still present in her life in their own ways. When she visits Isak’s grave, she regains a comforting connection with Noa, too. Even through all their years of estrangement, Noa still acknowledged and honored Isak as his father—even though he’d seemed to reject Sunja’s pleas that blood didn’t matter. Sunja is able to take a measure of consolation and closure from Uchida’s story of her son’s kindness. It can’t undo the loss, but it shows her that Noa loved her and honored the choices she made for his sake, too.
Themes
Survival and Family Theme Icon
Identity, Blood, and Contamination Theme Icon
Love, Motherhood, and Women’s Choices Theme Icon
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