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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 Kyunghee say to Kim when he proposes to marry her in Book Two, Chapter 14?

2. In Book Three, Chapter 3, what does Solomon tell the mourners at Yumi's funeral?

3. What does Hana tell Solomon about his family in Book Three, Chapter 20?

4. From Book Three, Chapter 5, why does Iwamura-san not like Noa?

5. What does Kazu tell Solomon as a life lesson in Book Three, Chapter 17?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Yangjin say in her pent-up final thoughts to Sunja in Book Three, Chapter 12?

2. What leads Haruki to become a police officer as described in Book Two, Chapter 17? Who recommends him to join?

3. How does Sunja feel seeing Hansu in the kitchen with her in Book Three, Chapter 4?

4. Why does Noa go to Nagano in Book Three, Chapter 1 after he finds Hansu is his father?

5. In Book Three, Chapter 21, what does Sunja find inside her bag while at Isak's grave and what does she do with it?

6. What does Ayame find and experience at the park on the walk home from the bathhouse in Book Three, Chapter 6? What does she see and experience when she returns to the park a second time?

7. In Book Three, Chapter Twenty, what does Goro-san say happened with the Korean woman's property that Solomon asked him to purchase? What does Solomon realize when he hears this?

8. How does Sunja meet Noa in Book Three, Chapter 8? What does she do when she sees him?

9. Why does Phoebe find it difficult to live in Japan as described in Book Three, Chapter 16?

10. How does Solomon get his name as told in Book Three, Chapter 10?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Do some research on the idea of "diaspora." Kim Changho returns to Korea because he longs to see his homeland. Noa eventually becomes a Japanese citizen and travels back to Korea. Meanwhile, the other members of the family are unable to get Japanese passports and can only have Korean passports, which are useless, and so they can not travel internationally or back to Korea. All of these events relate to longing for a homeland, diaspora, and the regulation of human bodies moving across geography. Use the concept of diaspora to focus on two characters in the novel and examine their connection to a homeland, their in-betweenness of identity and belonging, and how they navigate the policing of their bodies. How do they navigate heartache, pain, humiliation, and difficulties? Explain what diaspora is in relation to them.

Essay Topic 2

Noa and Mozasu are raised alongside one another and eventually both come to be working in pachinko parlors in different places in Japan. While Noa eventually commits suicide, Mozasu continues along working and raising his son. How do their different outlooks on life lead to different futures for them? Use at least three examples for each of the brothers to compare how they are similar and/or different. How does their upbringing, knowledge of their father, or things they are told about the world shape the actions in their lives? Finally, extend this larger: what does the novel show by putting these two characters alongside one another?

Essay Topic 3

Four generations of women are shown throughout Pachinko. From Yangjin, to Sunja and Kyunghee, to Yumi, Etsuko, and Ayame, and finally to Hana and Phoebe. What are liberties and abilities within each generation? How does a woman's role, or the role she can have, change over time? Choose two characters to compare and contrast how they live their lives according to the times. What historical changes allow a woman's life to be different from one generation or one experience to another? How are the choices of each character dependent or independent from the men in her life?

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