Analysis Of Pachinko By Min Jin Lee

The fictional family at the heart of “Pachinko,” the Baeks, wrestled with problems that were unfortunately common to transplanted people: material destitution, unwelcoming neighbors, and the threats and limitations of cultural assimilation. For them, ethnic biases were exacerbated by colonial-era resentments and abuses. The physical attributes between Japanese and Koreans were similar, making “passing” as a part of the majority an attractive possibility, but also a psychologically risky one. Migrants to Japan at this time in history congregated in “slums” and engaged in low-paying labor.

Discrimination was unbridled and relentless. The eventual emancipation of their homeland at the end of World War II was a double edge sword: Koreans were no longer subjects to the Japanese emperor and as result, lost the right to live in Japan. Many were homeless and jobless, so they stayed in Japan anyway, prompting years of fighting for their legal status.

Min Jin Lee, through the intricate journey she creates for the Baek family, weaves power into the tapestry of the novel.

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She presents power of status, grounded by the power of wealth, and a looming socioeconomic ladder for the Baek’s to climb. However, through this battle against discrimination and poverty, Lee shows that the most resilient power is one of fortitude. Throughout this multi-generational story, a multitude characters comment on power and its tendency to corrupt. The Japanese annex Korea beginning of the novel, and while the Japanese are violent and cruel, Hansu repeatedly reminds Sunja that the Koreans would be just as violent if the roles were reversed.

When Korea is left to govern itself autonomously after the war, cruelty and violence continue to occur. Hansu keeps the theme of discrimination and prejudice treatment of Koreans by the Japanese at the forefront: if the roles were reversed, this cruelty would still exist. This type of political power was shown to easily corrupt the group of people who maintain that power.

The power of wealth also has a clearly corrupting influence as well: Hansu treats the Baek family well, but his egomaniacal demands that Sunja and Noa follow the plans he has made for them – the power of wealth that he has grants him unlimited resources, and therefore, Hansu can play with Sunja and Noa, two people he feels entitled to, as his pawns. However, there are two types of personalities among the characters in the book: some have an external locus of control--there is an acceptance of their fate. Kyungee, Solomon, Noa, and Hana accept their circumstances in life as fate. From their status as women to their acceptance of their Korean heritage as dehumanizing, these characters face the events that happen to them by classifying them as forces beyond their control. Sunja, however, seems to adjust to new circumstances and bears an inner strength to continue moving forward when her situation is anything but ideal. Both her and Mozasu have an internal locus of control, as they overcome their individual and societal limitations; arguably, because of this way that Sunja and Mozasu approach life, they enjoy their successes as a parent and an individual more than other characters.

Hansu, the character with varying types of power throughout the book, ends up withering towards the end of his life, while Sunja remains strong in her health and in the sharpness of her mind. Characters who had fortitude learned how to survive. In her research for writing this book, Lee noticed in her interviews that people respond to change with a reliance on personal agency or with fatalism, the belief that everything is predetermined. Lee noticed that while most people combine these behaviors, one still tends to dominate the other. Those who were highly successful, across cultures, had a tendency to be versatile and adapt regardless of the circumstance. Adaptability in general is usually coupled with fortitude--strong mental foundations--and vast psychological resources. When Lee realized the pattern of humans choosing fatalism or personal agency, she also found that social norms were encouraging fatalism and passivity. Those who are adaptable are viewed as a threat, as it was natural in the environments she researched for someone who was independent and active to be dangerous as well. Throughout the novel, it is repeated that “a woman's lot is to suffer.” Sunja and Kyungee both knew this sentiment well, but while Kyungee adhered to it and allowed it to determine her fatalist behavior, Sunja was able to accept it, and still act on personal agency. Sunja and Kyungee both dreamed of the kimchi shop, but Sunja brought it to life.

Lee claims that the idea of “elective happiness” in Japanese society at the time was irrelevant. But even today, when happiness can be a choice, there is unrequested suffering; Lee believes that this suffering is a part of life, and it is easier for people to learn how to cope with and persevere through hardship rather than deny the existence of suffering. Sunja decided that she may have had a predetermined destiny of suffering, but that drove her to survive, to love, and to aspire because she knew that pain would inevitably arrive on her doorstep.