Pachinko

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below-bulleted outlines. Over the course of your response, cite details from the novel that serve as examples and support.

1. There are several sibling relationships explored in Pachinko, including the one between Isak and Yoseb and between Noa and Mozasu.

• What is the role of sibling relationships in Pachinko? (topic sentence)
• Compare and contrast Noa and Mozasu’s relationship with Isak and Yoseb’s. How is it different? Use examples from the text to show these similarities and differences.
• Finally, in your concluding sentence or sentences, discuss how these similarities and differences connect to the theme of being multiethnic in a monoethnic society.

2. Sunja’s life at the end of Pachinko is very different from how it was at the beginning.

• How is Sunja’s life different from what it was like when she was growing up in Yeongdo? (topic sentence)
• What changes happen in Sunja’s life and how does she adapt? Support your examples with quotes from the text.
• Finally, in your concluding sentence or sentences, explain what Sunja has learned from these changes. How does she view her life at the end of Pachinko?

3. The men in the novel receive and/or view education differently.

What does education mean to the characters in Pachinko? (topic sentence)

• In what ways does education mean different things to different characters? Choose 2-3 characters and include examples from the text to support your argument.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, describe how education plays a role in this novel.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Pachinko spans almost eighty years, taking place in Korea, Japan, and the United States. The story concerns five generations of people and begins in 1910, with the family suffering from poverty and colonization. Future generations gain financial success, especially as Mozasu becomes rich from the pachinko business and Solomon works in the international banking business. Compare and contrast the first generation of the family (Hoonie’s parents) with the fifth generation (Solomon’s generation). How are their lives similar? Different? What has changed and what have members of Solomon’s generation learned? Use examples from the text to support your argument.

2. Yoseb is one of the few characters in the novel to insist that people adhere to traditional values, even when such traditional values put their survival at risk. He insists that men should be the ones to work and have the power in family relationships. His anger at Sunja when she clears his debt surprises Sunja since she was acting out of concern and from experience. And yet Yoseb’s anger seems to result from his increasing powerlessness in Japanese society. When he goes to a bar upset about what the women have done, he realizes that each man in the room was “worried about money and facing the terror of how he was supposed to take care of his family in this strange and difficult land” (144). Trace Yoseb’s terror and how it eventually destroys him. Use examples from the text to support your argument.

3. The terror that haunts this book is not limited to Korean men. Totoyama, a Japanese seamstress for Goro, worries constantly about how she will support both of her sons, one of whom has special needs. Although she is a minor character in the book, her precarious position illustrates the vulnerability from which many of the characters suffer. When Goro places a large work order with Totoyama, “[s]he shut[s] the door tight and lock[s] the door behind her. There would be money for rent and food that month. Totoyama [sits] down in front of her door and crie[s] from relief” (260). What terrorizes the major characters in this book? Of what are Sunja, Noa, Mozasu, and Solomon most afraid? How does this change for them throughout the novel?