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
It’s 1974 in Yokohama, and Haruki is now married to Ayame, the foreman of his mother’s uniform shop, because it’s what Totoyama had wanted. Ayame manages the shop while Totoyama is dying of cancer, and after she dies, Ayame stays at home to care for Daisuke. At almost 30, Daisuke still has the mental capabilities of a child and is devastated by his mother’s death. Ayame arranges for a special education teacher to tutor him. When they move to a beautiful home in Yokohama, Mozasu easily gets Haruki a job in the local police precinct.
Haruki, who had experienced such ostracism as a child in Osaka, is also experiencing greater success, thanks in large part to Goro’s help in promoting his mother’s shop and Hansu’s influence in securing him a job. Daisuke also benefits from opportunities he wouldn’t otherwise have had.
Themes
One day while Daisuke is being tutored at home, Ayame goes to the bathhouse and then takes a shortcut home. As she walks through the park, she sees two men having sex among the trees. She feels shocked, but also wonders about the lack of intimacy in her marriage ever since the doctors deemed her infertile a while ago. She wonders if it’s strange to have questions about these things at 37 years old.
It’s the 1970s, and sexuality is beginning to be expressed in more public ways, but it’s still startling and uncomfortable for Ayame, who begins to suspect that her marriage is atypical.
Themes
A few days later, Ayame walks through the park again, and a girl flirts with her. Ayame returns to her normal routine, but the girl is on her mind for months. One night she returns to the park and walks among the many couples having sex there, thinking about Haruki. Suddenly, to her shock, she notices that Haruki is there, having sex with a younger man. She waits at the park until he is long gone, and she’s approached by the same woman as before. They start to make love, but Ayame recoils in disgust when the girl asks for money. “You have to pay for love!” the girl yells at Ayame as she flees the park. She goes to the bathhouse again and then returns home to Haruki and Daisuke.
After the shock of seeing Haruki with another man, Ayame takes comfort in feeling desired by someone, but is repulsed by the transactive nature of their encounter. Ayame wants real love and intimacy, but she fears they’ll come at too high a price, so she returns to the familiar shelter of her marriage.
Themes
