Gender in Pachinko

 In the novel, there are characters that seem to have defined gender roles, and there are some that blur the lines. For example, Kyunghee seems to portray a typical woman. She is extremely loyal to her husband, and respects him almost to a fault. She is also described as beautiful. Without the introduction of Sunja, she may have never had the courage to ask for anything. For example, she had the lovely idea of constructing a kimchi business. She is able to partially achieve this dream, but she would not have been able to do it without the encouragement from Sunja. She seems to be smart, but just enough to be a good wife. In a parallel sense, Yoseb is very ‘manly’. He has a strange addiction to tradition, and we see him slip into anger when he senses he is losing control. These are traits typically associated with a man. Then there are characters like Sunja. She is never described as pretty, in fact she is described as quite the opposite. She explores her sexuality with Hansu, but never really seems to be in control of it. She is a hard worker, but not in fields that are usually reserved for women (Hansu is concerned when he learns she is doing manual labor). She is confident but quiet, and skilled at negotiating. She seems to be an example of the blurred line between gender stereotypes. I think Lee is attempting to show the variation that comes with gender. There is no basket of male and female that everyone fits into. She shows that people can be successful when they stray from gender norrms.

Comments

  1. I completely agree with what you are saying about gender variation. Another way to look at gender in Pachinko, that I think goes along with what you are saying, is that Lee is showing how flawed these traditional gender roles can be and how straying from those gender norms can be beneficial.

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  2. I think the comparison between Sunja and Kyunghee is really effective as a way to look at Sunja's character as a subversion of traditional gender stereotypes. I definitely believe that Sunja's character is an argument by Lee against strict traditional gender roles, or at least an argument that departure from those traditional stereotypes can be a good thing.

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  3. These arguments seem very convincing to me about Lee's goals with these portrayals. It's also interesting how tied up these gender restrictions are with the colonial history she tells.

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