Previous
Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Book 2, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Isak’s Return:
Pachinko avoids emotional excess but packs a gut punch. At its most brutal moments, the novel chronicles the worst of human misfortunes and cruelties. That is the case when Noa returns home in Book 2, Chapter 4 one afternoon dramatic irony couples with pathos to heart-wrenching effect:
The man was sobbing now, and Noa felt bad for him. There were many poor people on the street, but no one looked as bad as this man. The beggar’s face was covered with sores and black scabs. Noa reached into his pocket and pulled out the coin. Afraid that the man might grab his leg, Noa stepped just close enough to place the coin on the floor near the man’s hand.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Noa's Father:
Pachinko builds dramatic irony when Yoseb arrives at Tamaguchi’s farm. In Book 2, Chapter 8, Noa’s burned uncle comes upon an uncomfortable discovery as Hansu tends to him:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Despite his well-tailored suit and highly polished leather brogues, Hansu appeared at ease in the barn, indifferent to the harsh smells of the animals and the cold drafts.
Yoseb said, ‘You’re the father of the boy, aren’t you?’…‘That’s why you do all this,’ [...]
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 14
Explanation and Analysis—Kyunghee’s Fidelity:
Kim Changho’s secret love for Kyunghee is an instance of situational irony in Book 2, Chapter 14. After unsuccessfully asking for Kyunghee’s hand, Changho leaves for Korea. Amid the failed proposal’s aftermath, Sunja observes:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Changho had loved someone who would not betray her husband, and perhaps that was why he had loved her. She could not violate who she was.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Noa's Fate:
Noa’s life takes an ironic twist in Book 2, Chapter 18, after Akiko reveals his true father. Flustered and frustrated, Noa yells at Sunja in the following chapter as he grapples with his blood ties to Hansu:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘How can you make something clean from something dirty? And now, you have made me dirty,” Noa said quietly, as if he was learning this as he was saying it to her. ‘All my life, I have had Japanese telling me that my blood is Korean—that Koreans are angry, violent, cunning, and deceitful criminals…But this blood, my blood is Korean, and now I learn that my blood is yakuza blood.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 20
Explanation and Analysis—Mieko’s Cruelty:
Dramatic irony comes to the fore in Book 2, Chapter 20, as Sunja searches desperately for Noa across the city. Standing on the palatial doorsteps of Hansu’s mansion, she begs his wife and gets casually brushed aside:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Hansu’s wife, Mieko, nodded. The beggar was no doubt a Korean who wanted money…
Mieko turned to the servant girl, ‘Give her what she wants and send her away. There’s food in the kitchen if she is hungry.’ This was what her husband would do. Her father had also believed in hospitality toward the poor.
Related Themes:
