Isak and Isaac

Similarities

One large parallel between Isaac and Isak is their faith. As a child, Isaac's father Abraham was told to kill the boy as a test of his faith to God. However, an angel stopped Abraham at the last second, sparing his life. For the remainder of his life, Isaac never forgot how God saved him, remaining one of the most faithful men in the Bible. Similarly, Isak maintained his faith throughout the story. He was thankful to God for allowing him to live so long despite numerous near-death experiences, and even after being tortured and mistreated in prison he remained faithful and thankful to God.

The other similarity is the faithfulness and love that Isaac and Isak had for their wives. Despite polygamy being acceptable, Isaac remained loyal to his wife, Rebekah, and loved her his whole life. The characters of Pachinko also live in a society where men having mistresses is common and accepted. However, Isak is faithful and loyal to Sunja and his family, despite Noa's parentage. Based on their interactions after his return, it appears that he and Sunja did learn to love one another, so while they did not love each other as long as Isaac and Rebekah, Isak and Sunja did deeply love one another by the end.

Biblical Names

In many of the books we've read in this class, names have been an important part of a character. In this case, I believe that the most important aspect of these names is that they are Biblical, rather than the names themselves. The Biblical nature of their names indicates a different thing depending on a person. For Isak, it signals that religion and therefore God will always be with him, despite the hardships he faces. However, for Noa it is something entirely different. Despite his wavering relationship with Christianity, his name is of religious origins. For him, his name is a constant reminder of religion and how he cannot truly choose his own path; religion will always be a part of his life, regardless of how he feels about it.