Biblical Names in Pachinko

 I believe Min Jin Lee included these biblical names not only to spread awareness of the names coming from the bible, but to show the impact Christianity had on everyone during this time. I also recognized that only the male names were included in the text as the female names did not have any association with women in the bible. This is very interesting to me, and I believe the families chose to name their sons after biblical figures to have more importance and the women were plain and not as important as the men which made sense due to the gender roles during this time. I recognize the versions of Biblical names included in this novel, but I primarily would like to focus on Isak(Isaac in the bible). In the bible, Isaac was very loyal as he followed the commands from God and he was an amazing husband to his wife Rebekah. He also has two sons, and these sons were miracles because it took a large amount of prayer and time for them to eventually be born. After quickly learning about Isaac as my previous knowledge is not enough, I instantly recognized key similarities between Isaac and Isak. Both men are excellent husbands that stay by the slides of their wives and never stray away no matter what. Both of these men are also very loyal and always do what they are told, making sure not to cause trouble. Overall, Noticing these differences has helped me to develop my own understanding of Lee’s reasoning to include similar biblical names, and as I continue to read, I will note important comparisons. 

Comments

  1. Jojo LampkaFebruary 27, 2022 at 11:30 PM

    I know nothing about the characters in the Bible, but I think your point about the importance that Christianity had at the time is very foundational.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jenna ChinnFebruary 28, 2022 at 10:32 PM

    I love your point about the Biblical names connecting to the topic of gender. I never thought about it that way, but it makes sense that the men were expected to be great from a young age while the women were seen as simply ordinary.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nick PecoraFebruary 28, 2022 at 11:44 PM

    You make a really interesting observation here that I had never really considered: That the prominent characters in the book named for biblical figures are all men. It's interesting to consider this as an intentional choice by Lee intended to further demonstrate the extent to which boys and men were often valued more than girls and women in society.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michelle BMarch 2, 2022 at 2:12 PM

    It's also interesting that these are all Old Testament names and figures.

    ReplyDelete

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