Solomon Baek Character Analysis in Pachinko

Solomon is Mozasu’s and Yumi’s son. After Yumi’s death, he is raised by Mozasu, his grandmother Sunja, and Mozasu’s girlfriend Etsuko. Mozasu dreams of his son becoming a “man of the world” and sends him to English-speaking schools and Columbia University. Because Solomon has always socialized with Americans and other Westerners, he’s sometimes chattier and more open in public than a typical Japanese or Korean person. When he’s 14, he falls in love with Hana, Etsuko’s daughter. At Columbia, he dates Phoebe, who’s Korean-American, but they break up after Phoebe fails to adjust to life in Tokyo and Solomon won’t propose marriage. Solomon gets a good job with the Tokyo branch of a British investment bank, but he’s fired after Mozasu’s and Goro’s yakuza ties contaminate a critical real estate transaction. With the encouragement of Hana, whom he still loves, Solomon then goes to work for his father’s pachinko company.

Solomon Baek Quotes in Pachinko

The Pachinko quotes below are all either spoken by Solomon Baek or refer to Solomon Baek. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

“It is hopeless. I cannot change his fate. He is Korean. He has to get those papers, and he has to follow all the steps of the law perfectly. Once, at a ward office, a clerk told me that I was a guest in his country.”

“You and Solomon were born here.”

“Yes, my brother, Noa, was born here, too. And now he is dead.” Mozasu covered his face with his hands.

Etsuko sighed.

“Anyway, the clerk was not wrong. And this is something Solomon must understand. We can be deported. We have no motherland. Life is full of things he cannot control so he must adapt. My boy has to survive.”

Related Characters: Mozasu Baek (speaker), Etsuko Nagatomi (speaker), Solomon Baek, Noa Baek

Page Number and Citation: 395

Explanation and Analysis:

“Japan will never change. […] The zainichi can’t leave, nee? But it’s not just you. Japan will never take people like my mother back into society again; it will never take back people like me. And we’re Japanese! I’m diseased. I got this from some Japanese guy who owned an old trading company. He’s dead now. But nobody cares. The doctors here, even, they just want me to go away. So listen, Solomon, you should stay here and not go back to the States, and you should take over your papa’s business. Become so rich that you can do whatever you want. But, my beautiful Solomon, they’re never going to think we’re okay. Do you know what I mean?” Hana stared at him. “Do what I tell you to do.”

Related Characters: Hana (speaker), Solomon Baek, Mozasu Baek

Related Symbols: Pachinko

Page Number and Citation: 462

Explanation and Analysis:

Solomon Baek Character Timeline in Pachinko

The timeline below shows where the character Solomon Baek appears in Pachinko. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Love, Motherhood, and Women’s Choices Theme Icon

Soon Yumi gives birth to a son, Solomon. On his first birthday ceremony, Solomon grabs a yen note, which signifies that he’s going... (full context)

...hit by a cab driven by a drunk driver and soon dies. She pushed three-year-old Solomon onto the sidewalk at the last moment, and he survived with only a broken ankle.... (full context)

Identity, Blood, and Contamination Theme Icon

Sunja continues living with Mozasu to help take care of Solomon. One day Hansu is watching them both from his car outside Solomon’s school. He thinks... (full context)

Sunja and Solomon ride home in the backseat of Hansu’s big sedan. Three-year-old Solomon invites Hansu to stay... (full context)

In 1979, Mozasu’s girlfriend, Etsuko, a 42-year-old divorcee and restaurant owner, is preparing for Solomon’s birthday party. She returns a phone message from her 15-year-old daughter, Hana. Hana tells Etsuko... (full context)

Imperialism, Resistance, and Compromise Theme Icon

Mozasu picks up Etsuko so that they can take Solomon to get his alien registration card. Like all Koreans born in Japan after 1952, Solomon... (full context)

At the Yokohama ward office, Solomon, whom his great-uncle Yoseb had named after the wise King Solomon, cheerfully volunteers his name’s... (full context)

On the way home, Solomon and Hana meet for the first time at Etsuko’s restaurant, and Solomon invites Hana to... (full context)

Mozasu sends Solomon to an English-speaking international school, and most of his party guests are the children of... (full context)

As they watch the children enjoying Solomon’s birthday concert, Etsuko wonders why her family looks down on pachinko so much. Her father... (full context)

Late that night, as Etsuko and Solomon talk about the party, Etsuko washes the ink out from under Solomon’s fingernails; it’s left... (full context)

Sunja returns to Osaka from Mozasu’s and Solomon’s house when Yangjin develops stomach cancer. Kyunghee has been nursing Yangjin ever since Yoseb died.... (full context)

Solomon and Hana are sitting together at Yangjin’s funeral. Solomon tries to concentrate while Hana whispers... (full context)

After Yangjin’s funeral, Hana and Solomon start secretly having sex. Even though Solomon is not yet 14 and Hana is 17,... (full context)

Five years later, Hana, drunk, calls Solomon in New York, where he’s attending Columbia University. She works as a hostess and prostitute,... (full context)

In 1989, Solomon is back in Tokyo, having landed a good job at Travis Brothers, a British investment... (full context)

Solomon regularly plays poker with his boss, Kazu, and some other guys from work. One night... (full context)

Kazu goes on to explain to Solomon that there’s nothing worse than knowing you’re just like everybody else, but this is what... (full context)

Next week, Solomon is the youngest guy who’s put on a major real estate transaction to build a... (full context)

One Sunday after church, Solomon and Phoebe visit Solomon’s family. Solomon’s childhood home, which was filled with American furniture when... (full context)

Sunja and Kyunghee warmly welcome Phoebe. Phoebe loves being around Solomon’s family, who are more compact than her own scattered family, and “warm but […] intensely... (full context)

...without laboring the way she and Kyunghee had to. She asks Phoebe when she and Solomon are getting married. Phoebe doesn’t mind the question, since she’s been wondering the same thing. (full context)

In the den, Solomon and Mozasu talk about work. Solomon tells him about the old lady who doesn’t want... (full context)

The next day, Mozasu calls Solomon. Goro found out the old lady’s identity; she’s a Korean who refuses to sell to... (full context)

Solomon visits Hana in the hospital. She looks shockingly different, scabbed and skeletal. Even now, she... (full context)

At work, Solomon can’t concentrate. He wonders what would have happened if Hana had never run away. Suddenly... (full context)

Solomon says that Kazu has no proof of any wrongdoing and that Goro has always been... (full context)

Kazu tells Solomon that he isn’t being discriminated against, “something that Koreans tend to believe”; he says he... (full context)

Solomon goes to the curry restaurant where Mozasu, Goro, and Haruki habitually eat on Wednesdays. He’s... (full context)

Phoebe doesn’t answer the phone, so Solomon returns to the hospital to visit Hana again. Hana tells him that he should take... (full context)

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... (full context)

Solomon had loved Phoebe’s confidence when they were at Columbia, but against the backdrop of Japan,... (full context)

Solomon goes to his father’s office and says that he wants to work for him. Mozasu... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Solomon Baek Character Analysis

Solomon Baek Quotes in Pachinko

Book 3, Chapter 9 Quotes

Book 3, Chapter 20 Quotes

Solomon Baek Character Timeline in Pachinko