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Definition of Mood
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect of a piece of writing... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes... read full definition
Mood
Explanation and Analysis:
Pachinko never parts with its undercurrent of sadness. The novel does not lack for tragedy: Isak Baek gets imprisoned and tortured by Japanese authorities when the church sexton, Hu, gets caught reciting the Lord’s Prayer; Yoseb, his brother, gets fatally burned by the atomic bomb blast; Noa kills himself; Yumi, Mozasu’s first wife, dies in a car accident. Generations come and go, but the weight of loss does not.
This oppressive sense of sorrow prevails even as characters manage to overcome their hardships. Mozasu finds wealth with his business, but he continues facing the stigmas of the pachinko industry. Etsuko’s designer handbags are a far cry from the poverty Sunja experienced decades earlier but offer no relief from her loss of Isak and Noa.
During the story’s more intimate moments, the narrator peers into the characters’ thoughts to dissect their regret and disappointment. “There were so many errors,” Etsuko thinks to herself when Hana arranges her abortion—“If life allowed revisions, she would let [her children] stay in their bath a little longer, read them one more story before bed, and fix them another plate of shrimp.” In other instances, brief sentences work to somberly dramatic effect: “In the morning, Hansu phoned [Sunja]. Noa had shot himself a few minutes after she’d left the office.” Pachinko emphasizes loss through detached, emotional distance or its deep psychological portraits. No life is perfect, the novel implies, and its characters inherit decades of trauma that ultimately mingles with their own sorrows.
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