Pachinko Literary Elements

Historical fiction, multigenerational saga

South Korea and Japan, 1910–1989

Third-person omniscient narrator, multiple viewpoints, past tense

Realist, tragic, empathetic

The protagonist is Sunja. The antagonist is Hansu.

Sunja struggles to survive and adapt after becoming pregnant by Hansu—a married man.

Sunja's son, Noa, learns that Hansu is his father.

As a girl, Sunja is told, “a woman’s life is endless work and suffering.” This foreshadows her fate.

In Chapter 2, the narrator states, “The winter following Japan’s invasion of Manchuria was a difficult one.” This is shown to be an understatement when we learn that Koreans suffered deprivation and even starvation, as well as adverse weather conditions. The use of understatement emphasizes the fact that the Korean characters are accustomed to hardship.

Two major historical events are alluded to in Pachinko: the Japanese occupation of Korea and World War II. Lee shows how these events affect the characters on a personal level.

The economic impact of Japan’s occupation of Korea is shown first through Hoonie’s parents, who rent their bedroom to lodgers to pay increasingly exorbitant taxes. Yangjin’s father is forced to marry her off when the Japanese take over his farmland, and he can no longer afford to feed his daughters. Meanwhile, during the Japanese rice shortage, Yangjin struggles to buy white rice to celebrate Sunja’s wedding as all available supplies have been reserved for the Japanese.

When Sunja and Isak move to Japan, the discrimination Koreans face there is illustrated in the miserable living conditions of Yoseb and Kyunghee. The religious persecution of Christians by the Japanese is also powerfully demonstrated when Isak and his associates are imprisoned. As Japan enters into World War II, Lee shows the economic impact on the ordinary man as Yoseb struggles to support his family, even with two jobs. When the war comes to an end, we again see the cost to the individual. Yoseb, who is working in a military factory, is horrifically burned in the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki.

The novel takes its title and also its central imagery from a Japanese arcade game. Pachinko is a game which involves both luck and skill. A player’s chance of winning may also be reduced if the pachinko machine has been rigged. Lee uses this image as a metaphor for the Korean characters’ lives. While they are born disadvantaged (the equivalent to playing on a rigged pachinko machine), they carry on, hoping that good fortune will eventually smile on them. It is this resilience which the author celebrates.

Pachinko parlours and Japanese attitudes to them are shown to be paradoxical. Although playing pachinko is a form of gambling (which is illegal in Japan), the game is not outlawed. This is because the arcade game is big business and contributes to the country’s economy. Nevertheless, the owners of pachinko businesses are viewed with contempt.

The author draws parallels between the lives of Sunja’s sons, Noa and Mozasu. Although they grow up in the same circumstances, the boys have completely different personalities and aspirations. Noa craves acceptance and respectability and wants to be perceived as a “good Korean.” Mozasu, however, sees no point in trying to combat Japanese discrimination by becoming a model citizen. Instead of aspiring to an education and a respectable profession, he dreams of becoming rich.

At first, the brothers follow entirely different paths. Noa goes to university while Mozasu begins work as soon as he can. Lee draws their fates back together, however, when both brothers end up working in the pachinko business and becoming wealthy. Nevertheless, their attitudes towards their situations remain worlds apart. For Noa, giving up his studies to work in the pachinko industry is a penance for the sins of his father. The decision reflects his sense of shame and involves a denial of his identity. Mozasu, on the other hand, is content with his fate. He is unashamed of how he makes his living and is happy to be able to provide for his family.

In Chapter 1 the author uses metonymy to emphasize the harmony of Hoonie’s marriage to Yangjin: “If it were possible for a man and his wife to share one heart, Hoonie was this steady, beating organ.”

“Biting winds sheared through the small boarding house.” Chapter 2