Native Speaker Questions and Answers
Native Speaker
What are symbols in Native Speaker?
Henry's position as a spy in Native Speaker symbolizes the experiences of American immigrants. Henry works at a firm that specializes in what he calls "ethnic coverage." First-generation Americans...
Native Speaker
In Native Speaker, what are Henry's challenges living an immigrant life?
Native Speaker is, in many ways, a Korean-American reimagination of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. -A. Magazine Native Speaker is the debut novel by Chang-Rae Lee, published in 1995. It is the...
Native Speaker
In Henry's experiences as a first-generation immigrant in Native Speaker, there are clear difficulties and emotions...
In Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker, Henry Park, the son of Korean immigrants, experiences many difficulties with assimilation and alienation throughout his life, and he struggles to fit in both in...
Native Speaker
Where does the book show evidence about the challenges faced during immigration?
Native Speaker is largely about the challenges of being an immigrant in America. The protagonist, Henry Park, who narrates the novel, never quite belongs: he was born in Korea, but lives in...
Native Speaker
What are Henry's challenges living an immigrant life in Native Speaker?
In Chang-Rae Lee's Native Speaker revolves around the life of Henry Park, the son of immigrant parents. Henry is also a spy and considers himself an observant outsider in American society. He...
Native Speaker
Where in the book does it show evidence about the challenges he faced during immigration?
"In America," he said, "it's even hard to stay Korean." As The New York Times wrote about Chang-Rae Lee's debut novel, it "proved him to be not just a graceful writer but a deft and original...
Native Speaker
In Native Speaker, Kwang seems to share an earnestness to uplift all minority groups because it will benefit Koreans...
In Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker, politician John Kwang steps into a conflict between a Korean store owner and a Black customer, but it is questionable whether or not he should have. The conflict...
Native Speaker
In Native Speaker, how does the author interpret the climax of the novel?
In the climax of the novel Native Speaker, Henry, the protagonist, rejects the role he has played to disenfranchise Korean Americans and embraces a new path forward. The author explores the...
Native Speaker
What motivates Lelia to take these private trips knowing that her marriage is in trouble?
In the novel, Lelia is Henry Park's wife. At the beginning of the story, Henry tells us that all is not well in his relationship with Lelia. During the weekends, Lelia has taken to going on trips...
Native Speaker
How does Chang-Rae Lee perceive the idea of "home" through the characters in his novel Native Speaker?
The question of what makes “home” stands at the heart of Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker. Many of the characters in this novel are first or second generation Korean Americans who are struggling to...
Native Speaker
Henry says that John Kwang represents a problem of the imagination for him. What does he mean?
In the book, Henry says that John Kwang represents a problem of the imagination for him because the latter doesn't live up to the stereotypical image of a Korean-American. While Henry is familiar...
Native Speaker
How does the last chapter offer a non-political alternative to John Kwang’s vision of multiculturalism?
Native Speaker was written by Chang-rae Lee and published in 1995. The major theme of the book is identity in America. One of the main characters, Henry Park, the child of Korean immigrants,...
Native Speaker
In the book Native Speaker, what is learned about male Koreanness at the end? In comparison, what is learned about...
Lee's Native Speaker deals with themes of identity and connection to our past and culture while dealing with our own individuality. In the context of being a first-generation immigrant, as Henry...
Native Speaker
Describe the historical context of Native Speaker and how it is embedded in a larger literary history that includes...
Native Speaker, which was published in 1996, is largely concerned with the experiences of Korean American people from the late 1980s onward. Henry Park, the protagonist, is a Korean American man...