Male Superiority
In many East Asian cultures, sons are considered more desireable than daughters due to their potential to help the family. Whereas sons remain with their parents, married daughters leave to live with their husbands, rendering them less "valuable" long-term. Like in Western countries, men are also believed to be physically and mentally superior, which is why they are meant to provide and care for their families. In Pachinko, Yoseb is seen as having internalized these ideals, explaining many of his sexist and controlling thoughts/actions.
Male Inferiority
In Pachinko, many of the male characters are shown to contradict these ideas of men being the stronger sex. In Hoonie's case, his physical disabilities and later illnesses resulted in dependence on his wife to take on many male roles. When Hoonie and Yangjin had children, the boys died, leaving Sunja as the only surviving child. Moving on to the Baek brothers, Yoseb and Isak both initially provided for their families, but Isak frequently needed Sunja to care for him due to his sickliness. In Yoseb's case, he was constantly emmasculated as Sunja and Kyunghee paid off his debt, took higher-paying jobs than his, and refused to allow him to completely control them. After his injuries, the two women cared for him and worked while he recovered, essentially taking on the male role and providing for him.
This disregard for/reversal of gender roles is Lee's method of disproving the sexist ideas of male superiority that so many cultures hold. These situations are not exceptional or strange in any way; they are simply women stepping up so that their family can survive, and it is no rare situation. In creating these situations in which the traditional gender roles are challenged, Lee shows their lack of real-world basis, especially in lower-class families.
I agree with your thoughts on Yoseb. I believe that (like Yoseb) we are all conditioned to think and act in certain ways. I didn't recognize your point about male inferiority in the novel, so thank you for sharing. I like your analysis about the purpose of the reversal of gender roles.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with your points written under "Male Inferiority." I did not see this perspective as clearly as you did. I thought many times about how this novel certainly shows some of the realities men face and feel because of the patriarchy (ie: in the case of Yoseb, he feels like he is unhelpful because he cannot carry the family all on his own like a man "should") but I did not think about how all of this is to combat male superiority. Although, I do not think Lee is attempting to show that men are actually inferior to women, rather I think Lee is just trying to show that men are simply not superior.
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely a case to be made the Lee believes that gender roles are defunct, and should not be the be-all-end-all of one's character. That being said, I don't necessarily believe that Lee is trying to reverse traditional gender roles. The argument that Sunja and Kyunghee are overturning Yoseb's role as the breadwinner would be a fair bit more compelling if it wasn't Hansu pulling the strings of their success the whole time. Of course, that doesn't downplay that Yoseb was emasculated by Sunja paying off his debt.
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