The gamble of migration: identity and assimilation in Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko

Abstract

Identity is an inseparable part of the human experience, a complex mosaic of trials and tribulations in the path to self. For immigrants, regardless of the generation, identity shapes the course of their lives in the face of dominant cultures, with the pressure to assimilate. This study explores the immigrant experience using Min Jin Lee’s novel, Pachinko (2017), focusing on the broader notions of identity and assimilation through the Zainichi Korean community. By examining the characters of the novel and Korean diaspora, this paper argues that assimilation is a flawed and destructive goal due to the existing prejudices and stereotypes of the dominant culture, especially in the historical background of colonization. Employing the critical lenses of Postmemory and Post-colonialism, this study shows that hyphenated identity is the reality, and path to self for immigrants. Finally, the research discusses the concept of home in the face of perpetual Otherness and generational trauma threaded in the very fabric of immigrant life.