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
These days, Henry spends his time walking around New York. He loves the city and the many different languages swirling throughout the streets. He often goes to Kwang’s house, simply wanting to walk by it. He even manages to enter it once by posing as a potential buyer. A real estate agent shows him around, and when he asks her who lived there before, she says the previous owners were “foreigners” who “went back to their country.”
The fact that Kwang and his family returned to Korea illustrates how hard it can be for immigrants to find success in the United States, a country that is often quite hostile toward newcomers. Even Kwang, who managed to become quite powerful and successful, ended up having to leave the country, thus suggesting that even the most impressive and hardworking people often face extremely difficult challenges after arriving in the United States.
Themes
Sometimes, though, Henry doesn’t spend his days walking around. Instead, he’ll help Lelia as she goes to teach ESL at public schools. He dresses as a Speech Monster who slowly dies as the children correctly pronounce old nursery rhymes and songs. The kids love it, and Henry truly enjoys the job. In particular, he loves hearing Lelia say each child’s name as she says goodbye to them one by one at the end of the class. As she speaks the foreign names, Henry delights in hearing his wife pronouncing the different languages, “calling all the difficult names of who we are.”
Henry and Lelia’s relationship has undergone a complete transformation throughout the course of the novel. They no longer dwell in silence on their shared loss, instead channeling their grief into new avenues—like, for instance, Lelia’s job as an ESL teacher. Her job (and Henry’s assistance with it) not only brings them together but also gives Henry a chance to give back to the immigrant community after having unwittingly betrayed that community.
Themes
