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Book 2, Chapter 10
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Pachinko, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Survival and Family
Imperialism, Resistance, and Compromise
Identity, Blood, and Contamination
Love, Motherhood, and Women’s Choices
Summary
Analysis
When Mozasu is 16, he’s required to help Yangjin and Sunja with their candy cart in the afternoons because he’s prone to getting into fights. One day he goes to visit Chiyaki, a flirtatious Japanese girl who works at the sock store in the market. When another man comes into her store and fondles her, Mozasu knocks some of the man’s teeth out. The police come to Sunja’s stall to question Mozasu. Mozasu tries to be deferential, knowing that Koreans who get in trouble can be deported. When Goro, the pachinko parlor owner who frequents the candy stall, sees the police, he vouches for the family and offers Mozasu a job in his parlor the next day.
Mozasu gets a big career break and a reprieve from school in an unexpected way. Goro, a pachinko man—hence someone who’d have criminal ties—likes Sunja and takes the opportunity to give a job to a Korean boy who’s at loose ends. Pachinko is viewed in Japanese culture as a tainted industry, and, according to racist, imperialist logic, suitable only for Koreans.
Themes
