After finishing Pachinko I can say that a lot of the themes in the novel seemed extremely relevant and realistic. I think that these themes also often correlated with the lessons and deeper meanings that Min Jin Lee was trying to convey through her text. One of these themes was identity. In the novel, something every character grappled with was the intersectionality of their identity. Some characters struggled with race and gender, some with race and sexual orientation. Lee asked us to see each character for their whole identity, when the rest of the world was only seeing them for one aspect of it. The lesson that I took from this theme was that everyone is struggling with their own things and to not make snap judgments about people. The characters had so much to offer in their own ways, but were often so looked-down on in society that they could never share these things. Another theme I saw was family and the importance of finding a community sharing similar experiences to yourself. In this case, the family was oftentimes a support system for the characters when they were struggling. There were many other themes of course, but these were the two that stood out to me.
Hi Audrey! These were two really important themes that I also noticed. I think the one in regards to identity was really interesting especially. Throughout the book, so many different characters hated their identities or changed who they were so much. I especially saw this through Noa, who always wanted be someone he really wasn't. He spent most of his life, hiding the fact that he was Korean and never really embraced himself for who he truly was.
ReplyDeleteHey Audrey, I can the struggle of identity through so many characters as well. This got me thinking about which characters do not seem to struggle with it as much. My first instinct is that Mosazu never struggled too hard with his identity. I think this is dramatized because of the stark contrast between him and his brother, Noa, who struggled more with his identity than perhaps anyone else in the book. I also saw the importance of family being very significant. Along with a support system, it seemed the characters were often very willing to make sacrifices for one another. Thanks for bringing light to these themes, they stood out to me aswell.
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