Native Speaker: Chapter 22 Summary & Analysis

An angry mob gathers outside of John Kwang’s house. It’s mostly made up of white people yelling about undocumented immigrants, asking how many people in Kwang’s “money club” have “stolen” jobs from Americans. Kwang himself is set to arrive at any moment, having just been questioned by federal agents.

As Henry waits in the crowd, he imagines what his mother would have thought of Kwang. He’s sure she would have found him foolish for trying to create such a large ggeh. Why would he want to do something so enormous when he could have focused on his own affairs and contented himself with his own success? Henry’s mother surely would have pointed to his father as the perfect example of a successful Korean man, celebrating the sacrifice he made by giving up his education in Korea to provide for his family in the U.S.

Henry now understands that the ggeh list must have been the only thing Hoagland was interested in when it came to Kwang. Neither Hoagland nor the client who hired his firm ever cared about Kwang as an individual. Rather, they cared about what he represented and the information he might lead them to. But Henry also understands that Kwang himself never would have thought to view the formation of a ggeh as something malicious or illegal. He didn’t know which community members were undocumented, since such a matter didn’t seem important to him.

Henry is still in the crowd outside Kwang’s house. That morning, he left Lelia in the apartment to go to Hoagland’s office for the final time. As soon as he got onto the street, he encountered Jack, who said he’d give him a ride. On the way, Jack admitted that he knew Eduardo was a spy, but he didn’t know this until after the bombing. He seemed apologetic, but he emphasized that he’d gained nothing from the entire affair. Hoagland has, he said, but Hoagland always wins. As for Jack himself, he can finally retire now, but he doesn’t know what he’ll do with himself. Still, he told Henry to be well, urging him to forget all about everyone at Glimmer & Company and to enjoy the rest of his life.

Finally, a police car pulls up, and Kwang emerges. The crowd swarms around him, trying to get close. People scream, but Kwang doesn’t seem to care. In fact, Henry realizes that he’s deliberately walking slowly, as if to taunt the crowd—as if to show them that they can’t rankle him. As soon as the angry mob realizes this, though, they try even harder to get at him, swarming him as best they can. In response, Henry fights toward Kwang and finally gets close to him, at which point he starts fending off the angry white people, fighting them so they can’t get at Kwang. But it’s no use, because for every blow he lands, another one comes back. And then he makes eye contact with Kwang, who sees Henry and immediately looks down “like a broken child.”