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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 Yoseb tell Isak not to do to avoid trouble in the ghetto in Book One, Chapter 12?

2. What does Sunja sell for Yoseb's debt in Book One, Chapter 16?

3. What does Yoseb learn when he goes to the church looking for everyone in Book Two, Chapter 1?

4. What is Pastor Yoo doing at the Osaka church when Isak arrives in Book One, Chapter 14?

5. Who is Mozasu's favorite wrestler in Book Two, Chapter 11?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Hansu tell Sunja she must leave Osaka in Book Two, Chapter 6? What does he tell her she must do?

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

3. What is Kyunghee's dream she tells to Sunja in Book One, Chapter 15 and why can she not do it?

4. What does Yoseb think of the Japanese war in China in Book Two, Chapter 3? How does the way he thinks about it connect with the larger philosophy of Korean people?

5. How do Hoonie's parents raise him in Book One, Chapter 1? Why do they not dote on him?

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

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

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

9. What does Hansu tell Kim Changho about the Korean nationalist groups in Book Two, Chapter Nine?

10. Where and why are Pastor Yoo, Sexton Hu, and Isak arrested as described in Book Two, Chapter 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sunja and Etsuko are two characters shown in the role of a mother in Pachinko. Etsuko thinks that, "being a mother was what defined her more than any other thing" (406), and for Sunja, motherhood sets in place the events of the novel with the conception of Noa. How does motherhood define each of their lives? How do these women think similarly or differently about their relationship to their children? Why do they think this way, according to the times they were raised in, and according to what their parents taught them? What purpose do they contribute to in the novel by showing different pictures of motherhood?

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

Analyze Pachinko for its protagonist/antagonist relationships and overall structure. Choose two of the protagonist/antagonist relationships to compare to one another. How do you know one character is the protagonist and the other is the antagonist? What effect is achieved in the novel by having multiple protagonists and antagonists at different points in the novel? Use at least two textual examples to support your argument for each of the protagonist/antagonist relationships you choose.

(see the answer keys)

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