I am a Catholic, but I haven't gone to Church in many years. I wouldn't be able to tell you about anyone in the Bible! However, after some research, I notice many similarities between Isak in Pachinko and Isaac in the Bible. I chose to examine Isak's similarities to Isaac because I admire Isak for his refusal to conform to societal expectations. In the Old Testament of the Bible, Isaac is the only son of Abraham. Abraham nearly sacrificed his only son due to God's command. In Lee's Pachinko, Isak is not sacrificed against his will, but sacrifices himself for what he believes is right. He sacrifices his honor by marrying Sunja, a woman pregnant outside of wedlock. He also sacrifices himself for his religion when he chooses not to recant his Christian religion in favor of the dominant Shinto religion.
I really enjoyed being in this class for the last two quarters. Originally, I was nervous and scared to be writing as much as we have because writing is not my strong suit. I was afraid I'd fall behind. While there was definitely plenty of initial struggle in the transition from high school writing to college writing, I feel like I have improved a lot as a writer. In particular, I have improved on writing research papers, something that was a serious endeavor for me in high school. Aside bettering my writing skills, I appreciated this class for all of the time periods we learned about. I also really enjoyed doing projects such as Neatline which incorporated map-based research. Learning about cultures from different time periods and different physical locations really widened my scope of the world. I was born in the United States when it was already considered one of the most powerful countries in the world. For that reason, my perspective is very limited and it is easy for me to b...
I noticed that similarity as well, James. Isaac and Isak have a lot in common, namely the fact that people willing to sacrifice (or be sacrificed) to God and the greater good. Isaac in the Bible also migrates a lot- something that Isak in the novel does, as well. The biblical names all have a lot of depth and meaning to them, and it is interesting to see if the novel will have any larger themes that touch on this trend.
ReplyDeleteHi James! I don't know much about the bible or any of the characters in it so this really helped me understand their similarities more. Both Isaks seem to be very selfless men who are willing to give up anything for others. I think Lee incorporated this parallel to the Bible to give readers more insight into who she wants these characters to be.
ReplyDeleteI agree that both Isak and Isaac represent a person—either by their own will or the will of another—who is sacrificed for the greater good. That greater good being deference to Christianity, Shinto religion, or simply a greater sense of morality. But in either, it is something greater than the individual himself.
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