Week 8: Gender Inequality in Pachinko

    Gender is one of, if not the biggest recurring theme throughout the novel. The entire plot stems from the societal norms that would condemn the 16 year old Sunja for being impregnated while unmarried to a much older, manipulative man who had a whole separate family. If word were to get out, most people would have undoubtedly sided with Hansu. It’s a shame that Sunja has to marry, especially at her age, in order to remain what would be considered a valuable member of society. The novel even mentions women killing themselves if they are impregnated before marriage, even if it was forced upon them. It is so awful to think that regardless of age, a woman or girl could be heavily condemned or commit suicide for having a child they didn’t want, a horror that the novel keeps the reader aware of to continually contextualize the decisions made by the characters. 
    At the same time, many of these different societal standards between men and women are not questioned, only because they are not questioned in the story. It can be difficult to continually remember, but we are reading a story from the early 1900s in another country, so what is considered right and wrong is completely different. We the reader will of course apply our own moral compasses, but that uncomfortableness of the discrepancy between the two eras feels intentional to seem as historically accurate as can be.

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