English final exam: Native Speaker

Chang Rae Lee wrote Native Speaker

Who wrote Native Speaker?

The main theme of Native Speaker is Henry’s struggle to belong as a Korean-American torn between cultures and identities

What is the theme of Native Speaker?

Henry and Lelia’s deceased son, whose lose deeply affects Henry’s emotional state

Who is Mitt Park?

Ernesto and John Kwang share a close friendship, with Ernesto looking up to Kwang as a mentor and role model in their community. He works as a college volunteer at the company

Who is Ernesto?

Henry Park is a Korean-American spy struggling with grief, betrayal, and identity crisis

Who is Henry Park?

Kwang is a rising Korean-American councilman whom Henry is hired to spy on

Who is John Kwang?

Lelia Park is Henry’s wife, whose relationship with him reflects cultural and emotional distance

Who is Lelia Park?

Emile Luzan is Henry’s therapist who helps him confront his grief and identity struggles. Henry is assigned to spy on him first though

Who is Emile Luzan?

Jacob is Henry’s boss and close friend who supports him but also challenges him to face the harsh realities of their spy work

Who is Jack?

Sherrie works at John Kwang’s office and is apart of his political team, representing the professional world Henry spies on. She is also having an affair with Kwang

Who is Sherrie?

Dennis Hoagland is Henry’s tough coworker at the spy agency who pushes him hard and often makes Henry’s job even more difficult

Who is Dennis Hoagland?

First person from Henry’s view, showing his inner conflict and isolation

What is the point of view?

Loss and grief is seen in Henry’s mourning for his son Mitt, affecting his emotional life

How is loss and grief a motif?

Identity and assimilation explores the tension between Korean heritage and American culture

How is identity and assimilation a motif?

Secrets are apart of Henry’s double life as a spy and his internal conflicts

How are secrets a motif?

Henry Park, a Korean America, reflects on his failing marriage with Lelia, who leaves him after the death of their son Mitt

What does Henry Park reflect on?

He works as a spy for a private firm that gathers intelligence on political figures

What is Henry’s job?

Henry struggles with his identity, cultural heritage, and emotional distance, shaped by his strict immigrant upbringing and his job’s secrecy from his wife Lelia

What does Henry struggle with?

Henry is assigned to investigate John Kwang, a charismatic Korean-American councilman gaining popularity in New York

Who is Henry assigned to investigate?

Henry behind working undercover in Kwang’s campaign office, where he sees Kwang as a symbol of pride for the Immigrant and Koran community

How does Henry get closer to Kwang?

He builds relationships with Kwang’s staff, including Sherrie, who is secretly having an affair with Kwang

Who is the main person Henry is a building a relationship with in Kwang’s staff

Kwang treats Henry like a trusted ally, reminding him of his own father’s expectations and values

How does Kwang treat Henry?

As Henry spies, he grows conflicted —- feeling loyalty to Kwang as a fellow Korean American, yet bound by duty to expose him as a spy

Why does Henry feel conflicted when he spies?

Ernesto is a young immigrant boy Henry previously mentored, resurfaces and becomes connected to Kwang, but tragically dies in a gas explosion tied to the campaign and Kwang’s company

How is Eduardo connected to Kwang?

The scandal involving Kwang’s affair, finances, and ties to immigrants with gehs becomes public — partly due to Henry’s work

What is involved in the Kwang scandal?

Kwang’s political career collapses, and he is left disillusioned and betrayed, especially by Henry

What happens to Kwang’s political career after the scandal comes out

Henry leaves the spy firm, overwhelmed by guilt and identity

Why does Henry leave the spy firm?

He begins to rebuild his relationship with Lelia, seeking emotional honesty and healing after Mitt’s death

How does Henry rebuild his relationship with Lelia?

In the final scenes, Henry works with immigrant children, finding quiet purpose and beginning a more genuine, self aware life

What does Henry do in the final scenes?

Leila, Henry’s wife, takes a new job as a speech therapist working with immigrant children in schools

What is Leila’s new job?

Henry has a brief affair with a Korean woman arranged by his spy agency, showing his emotional numbness and identity struggles after losing his son and growing apart from Lelia

Who does Henry have an affair with?

Leila also has an affair while separated from Henry. Though less is shown about it, it’s implied through her distance and Henry’s reflections

When does Leila have an affair?

Kwang hired a local Korean gang to bomb his campaign headquarters and kill Eduardo in revenge after he found out he was a spy selling press stories about him

Who did Kwang hire to kill Eduardo and why?

Glimmer and Company

What is Henry’s company called?

Henry spies on Luzan but forms a genuine connection as he helps him confront his pain and identity. His death caused by the agency forces Henry to rethink his life and abandon his work as a spy

What impact did Emile Luzan have on Henry?

Mrs Park is Henry’s traditional and reserved mother, whose silence and expectations deepen his struggle wit identity and belonging

Who is Mrs Park?

Mr Park is Henry’s quiet, traditional Korean father whose distance reflects the cultural pressures Hengry struggles with

Who is Mr Park?

Henry hid the true nature of his own job from Leila, not telling her about his spying and the dangers involved, which created distance and mistrust between them

How did Henry’s job as a spy create distance?

Kwang’s car crash with an underaged girl shows his reckless, manipulative nature

What did the car crash reveal about Kwang?

Kwang’s crime is exposed publicly, revealing his manipulative schemes involving other immigrants in the geehs. As a result, he gets deported, which impacts the immigrants who worked with him since they got deported too

How does the public react to Kwang’s crime?

Mr Park geehs reflect his attempt to fit into American society while holding onto Korean values

What do Mr Park’s geehs reflect?

Kwang’s geehs are more tied to underground manipulative dealings involving immigrants and power, showing his ruthless, controlling nature

What do Kwang’s geehs reflect?

Mr Park is secretly having an affair with the family maid, a relationship Henry discovers. This hidden affair causes tension and shame within the family

Who is Mr Parks secretly having an affair with?

Native Speaker shows tension between Black and Korean communities, especially as Kwang’s immigrant-focused politics sir mistrust and division, with Henry caught in between

What are the Black and Korean feuds?

Henry feels Lelia, his white wife, sees him through a stereotypical lens, making him feel distant and misunderstood in their marriage

How does Leila treat her Korean husband as a white woman?