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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 sell for Yoseb's debt in Book One, Chapter 16?

2. Where does Goro-san offer to employ Mozasu in Book Two, Chapter 11?

3. What does Koh Hansu tell Sunja to be careful for in Book One, Chapter 4?

4. Why does Kyunghee think she still may be able to have children in Book One, Chapter 15?

5. Where do the Koreans in Osaka live as described in Book One, Chapter 12?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the novel describe Ikaino in Book One, Chapter 12?

2. In Book Two, Chapter 5, why does Isak tell Noa he must still go to school even though Isak is dying?

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

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

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

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

7. What is Goro-san's character like and why is he so successful at Pachinko as described in Book Two, Chapter 12?

8. What worries does Yangjin confide to Isak as they walk in Book One, Chapter 7?

9. What things does Isak ask Sunja about marrying him in Book One, Chapter 9? Why does he ask these these?

10. How is Mozasu becoming a "bad Korean"in Book Two, Chapter 10? What does he think about this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

How is Pachinko arranged as a whole novel? Examine the structure of Pachinko in the first section, the second section, and the third section. Why is the novel divided in this way? What does each section say on its own, as an individual book? What is the message of the three sections put together overall? Consider the titles of each section as well as the epigraphs. What does the structure of the novel and the use of three sections say about the story as a whole? Use textual evidence to support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Jan the coalman says the aristocratic Koreans lost Korea for everyone else. Kim Changho leaves Japan to go to Korea and join the liberation movement. Phoebe is upset when in Japan, people ask her if she is chosenjin or kankokujin (441). Do outside research about the historical events happening in Korea over the length of the novel. Use at least three sources. Then use this research to explain in at least two sections what is happening in the novel at parts where political movements and terms are mentioned, but not fully explained. How does what a character says or think connect back to the larger historical events?

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