Jojo's Adventures

  If you asked me at the beginning of this school year if I considered myself to be globally educated, I would have said no. If you asked me that same question now, I would probably still say no but with slightly more hesitation. When I saw I was autoregistered in a class about literature of the world, I was a little disappointed. I am a stem person, through and through. I thought I would be so bored. However, after completing this course I have realized the immense importance of global cultural education. And not only in the current day, but the ways in which the past influences the present. In terms of what surprised me, I am shocked at how much I learned and how much the lessons in the various books stuck with me. If you told me Home Fire would affect me as much as it did, I would not believe you. Though I do not remember relating intensely to any one character, the perspectives from so many different walks of life allowed me to appreciate those around me more deeply and sincere...

  Pachinko was a very important book. Not only did it touch on gender roles and the role of women in Asian society, it ended in a way that solidified the fact that Korean lives did not miraculously get easier one day. To end the book on that note would have been an unsubstantiated claim about Korean life. Now, I will admit that I hated the ending when I first read it. But hearing other’s thoughts on it in class made me realize the significance of the ending. Pretty everything in Pachinko is purposeful. From the historical references to the connection (or lack thereof) to biblical characters, Lee hand-picked each word in her book, and it yielded an impactful finished product. Death was also a major theme in the book. It kind of showed how, no matter how rich you are or how hard you work, everyone dies in the end. The distinction Lee made between the different deaths is how the deceased person is remembered. Isak’s grave gets visited frequently. He is loved by his family, and they ce...

  Yumi seems to be the most unlucky girl in the world. She has a horrible childhood, and is forced to flee with her sister. Then, her sister dies in her sleep. Then, she has to become a seamstress despite her only dream being to go to America. Then, she has two miscarriages. And lastly, she dies tragically while saving her son. She seemed to do everything right, and try so hard, only to be let down at every turn. This could correlate to the Korean struggle. In almost every case, no matter how hard a Korean at the time tried, there was no room for social mobility. Essentially, a Korean in Japan was cursed from the beginning, like Yumi. However, where Yumi differs from the average Korean is that she does not feel the need to be Japanese. The narrator, when speaking Yumi’s thoughts, says, “ But she could not imagine clinging to Japan, which was like a beloved stepmother who refused to love you," (295). Yumi recognizes the obsession many Koreans understandably have with Japan. However...

  Akiko is a strange character. I still cannot decide if I like her or not. Though she outwardly criticizes the segregation of peoples (as seen in her discussion in the college class about the book), it is always difficult to see the side of the aggressor as she does not seem to do much for the Korean community aside from talk. She is from a rich, Japanese family, and probably has never known hardship. The other point I thought of was the fact that we do not really see her interact with Koreans who are not educated and well-spoken. Who knows if she would be so eager to associate with someone from the “lesser” race if they did not speak Japanese, or could not attend college like she and Noa do. We also see her selfish nature as she injects herself into lunch with Hansu. This was simply an action done without thought, as there would have been no consequence to her had it gone badly. She seems like the type of person to only think deeply concerning matters that relate to her directly....