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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Sunja think about her children in Book Two, Chapter 4?

2. What does Yoseb name Isak and Sunja’s new baby boy in Book One, Chapter 17?

3. What does Hansu give Sunja as a gift in Book One, Chapter 6?

4. Who is Mozasu's new friend in school in Book Two, Chapter 10?

5. What does Yoseb do to rid Noa of lice Book Two, Chapter 5?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sunja deal with Mozasu's fighting in Book Two, Chapter 11?

2. How has the war helped Tamaguchi? What does he think about the war continuing in Book Two, Chapter 7?

3. What figurative language does Sunja use to think about the stories Koh Hansu tells her in Book One, Chapter 5? Why does she try to store everything he tells her?

4. What does the ajumma tell Sunja about a women's life and the man she will marry in Chapter Three?

5. What secrets does Noa keep to himself in Book Two, Chapter 4? Who does he keep these secrets from?

6. In Book One, Chapter 17, why is Yoseb so upset at Sunja for selling the watch?

7. How does Sunja understand forgiveness differently than Pastor Shin means it in Book One, Chapter 10?

8. Why is Sunja so determined to pay off Yoseb’s debt in Book One, Chapter 16?

9. What is the propaganda in the newspapers Yoseb reads in Book Two, Chapter 1?

10. What are Yoseb and Hansu's plans for the Baek family in Book Two, Chapter 8? How are they different?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The history of the Christian church in Japan carries throughout the novel. How does faith in Christianity shape the lives of the characters? Why is Christianity seen as such a threat in the beginning of the novel? How do those who do not follow Christianity understand it? Has the understanding of Christianity in the larger society change from the beginning to the end of the novel? Use at least three textual sources and two outside sources to develop a picture of faith and examine how it relates to the events of the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Both Yoseb and Isak begin wanting to support their families, and then are in some way injured or kept from being able to provide. What are each of these men's outlook on life in the beginning of the novel? And then with the events that happen to them, how does their outlook on life change or stay the same? What keeps their character in place? Or what pushes them to snap? Compare and contrast their experiences, and create a thesis answering what leads them to act differently from one another when there are divergences.

Essay Topic 3

In the third book of Pachinko, with the war over, Japan begins to rebuild and Western influences begin to change society. What new ideas are introduced? How does this shape what the characters think of and what they want? What characters display new ideas or Western influence? Akiko and Yumi may be two examples of characters whose outlook is shaped by the ideas of the United States and Europe. Use at least three examples from the novel to develop a thesis: How does the outside influence of the United States, Europe, and the West affect the characters lives in the third book of Pachinko?

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