Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Native Speaker, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity and Multiculturalism
Silence, Language, and Communication
Racism and Xenophobia
Love, Loss, and Moving On
Summary
Analysis
On the day that Henry Park’s wife, Lelia, leaves him, she gives him a list she has compiled. The list is a running account of who he is. It’s not comprehensive, he knows, but rather a collection of “snapshots” of his true identity. She has been traveling periodically in the year leading up to this departure, frequently zipping off to small towns in upstate New York or other random destinations without telling him why she’s going. He tries to let her have this space, only ever wanting to know where she’ll be and whom she’ll be with.
From the very beginning of Native Speaker, it’s clear that the novel will explore the depths and nuances of Henry Park’s identity. The fact that his wife has made such a concerted effort to characterize him suggests that she has had trouble in the past fully figuring him out—her need to make a list in the first place hints that she has been thinking for a long time about who he really is. In turn, the novel’s opening implies that Henry is a somewhat enigmatic person, even to the people who love him.
Themes
One day, Lelia tells Henry that she’s beginning to feel burned out. She freelances as a speech therapist for children, often working in public schools or in her and Henry’s apartment, where parents bring their children to work on their speaking abilities. Some of these children need help for physical reasons (like because they have cleft palates), but others come to work with Lelia because English is their second language. They need help as they work on their pronunciation. Henry is particularly attuned to these children when they come to the apartment, since he himself is a “nonnative speaker.”
Henry pays close attention to language throughout the novel. His interest in this regard is evident early on, since the mere fact that he takes note of Lelia’s foreign-language students hints at his own experience of learning to speak English as a Korean American. The implication is that Henry recognizes himself in Lelia’s “nonnative” students, potentially recalling what it was like to work so hard on his pronunciation as a child.
Themes
When Henry hears that Lelia is burning out, he tells her to take time off from work—they have enough money, so she can take a little break. But then she says she wants to travel abroad, and she has already told the public school she won’t be available to work. What’s more, she wants to travel alone. She might try to get back into writing, hoping to throw herself into her poetry again.
Henry tries to help Lelia, but it turns out that she has already helped herself by making arrangements to take time off work. However, she didn’t tell Henry she’d be doing this, suggesting that she has embraced a somewhat independent mindset that hints at a growing rift in their relationship.
Themes
Lelia decides to go to Italy, planning to be there for all of November and December. Walking her to the departures counter in the airport, Henry tries to help her with the luggage, but she insists on carrying the heaviest bags herself. He asks if she needs any money, but she assures him that her savings will support her—she doesn’t refer to them as their savings, but as hers, and this catches Henry off guard. Then she hands him a folded piece of paper and tells him not to read it until he’s in the car again. She awkwardly accepts a kiss on the cheek, and then she slowly walks away.
It's clear that Lelia has decided to distance herself from Henry, though it’s not yet clear why she would want to do this. The fact that she felt compelled to write a list (presumably, the list mentioned in the novel’s opening) trying to somehow grasp his identity or personality suggests that she already feels like he keeps her at a remove. This implies that her decision to slowly distance herself has to do with her feeling of already being estranged from him.
Themes
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Henry thinks the list is a poem at first, since it’s written in an odd, almost off-handed style. “You are surreptitious,” it begins. “B+ student of life.” Phrases like this continue down in a straight column, as Lelia notes that Henry is an “illegal” and “emotional alien.” She also writes the phrases “Yellow peril: neo-American,” “poppa’s boy,” “stranger, “follower,” “traitor,” and—finally—“spy.”
The terms Lelia uses to describe Henry are wide-ranging and somewhat strange, making it difficult to fully understand what, exactly, she’s trying to say about him. And yet, it’s arguable that this ambiguity is the point of her list: she herself doesn’t know how to categorize or grasp Henry’s identity, which is why she tried to write the list in the first place. The phrase “Yellow peril” refers to the racist belief that an influx of Asian immigrants into Western countries would pose a serious threat to Western culture at large. That Lelia uses this term is somewhat startling. However, it may simply indicate that Henry has to constantly deal with this kind of xenophobia and racism as a Korean American living in the United States.
Themes
Henry manages not to get too hung up on the list, deciding not to see it as an insult. But then he finds another piece of paper underneath his mattress. “False speaker of language,” it says. The note makes him think about his and Lelia’s relationship. In particular, it makes him think about all the ways he has kept his professional life hidden from her. To a certain extent, she knows what he does, but not because he has told her. At first, he simply let her think that companies would hire him to come to their business, ingrain himself in the daily activities, and eventually reveal the employees who have been sharing company secrets. But this isn’t what he does.
It slowly becomes clear that Henry works as a spy of sorts, though it’s not yet apparent what, exactly, this means. Lelia seems to have assumed that he’s some kind of industrial spy whose job it is to help companies protect themselves from employees who might leak industry secrets. But this isn’t the case, and the fact that Henry still hasn’t told Lelia what he really does—even though they’ve been married for a while—once again emphasizes the lack of open communication in their relationship. Although Lelia is the one to leave, then, it seems that Henry’s largely responsible for the rift in their relationship.
Themes
Henry never infiltrates big companies, instead spending his professional time getting to know specific individuals and becoming close with them—so close that he eventually knows all the intimate details of their lives. Whenever Lelia asks him about work, he tells her that the information is too “sensitive” to talk about, and she calls his avoidant remarks “Henryspeak.” Now, though, he’s willing to tell her everything, and he thinks his disciplined father would be proud of him for finally owning up to who he is. And who is he? Well, he’s a kind, affable man who has a knack for figuring out how to make people feel good about themselves—and when people feel comfortable in front of him, they give up all their secrets.
It's still unclear what Henry does for a living. He’s some sort of spy, but it hasn’t yet been revealed what this means on a practical level. Instead of clarifying the specifics of his job, Henry simply explains why he’s well-suited to the life of a spy, ultimately implying that he has a natural talent for getting people to open up to him. As the novel progresses, it will become increasingly clear that his knack for blending into his surrounding environment is connected to his upbringing as an immigrant accustomed to simultaneously navigating both Korean and American culture.
Themes
