Pam answers “Spoiler Why bury the keychain at the end?...”

Pat Holtschlag asked this question about Pachinko:

Spoiler Why bury the keychain at the end? Meaning/symbolism?

Pam - We don't know what happened to Noa's body, so in a way, this was her burying her son with her husband.
- Korean shamanism, though Sunja wasn't a big…more- We don't know what happened to Noa's body, so in a way, this was her burying her son with her husband.
- Korean shamanism, though Sunja wasn't a big practitioner, she goes to the cemetery somewhat sheepishly as she is talking to the dead. She reflects on how Isak taught her that what is buried there is no longer the person, but old Korean traditions were something she still kept. Part of talking to the dead in Korean Shamanism discusses appeasing ghosts, too, so symbolically, by burying Noa's picture here she was trying to appease the ghost of her dead son that was haunting her. The text says she changed after his death; she was obsessed with it, etc. So we could read into this thinking that she was finally letting go over her pain.

- Remember, this whole story was because of Noa's conception. So Lee has created a circular ending to the story with her protagonist saying goodbye to her son. (less)

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