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Lelia
Henry’s father was a Korean immigrant who came to the United States with his wife and son (Henry), settling in New York City and opening a grocery store. A disciplined man of few words, he was a hard worker who earned a master’s degree from one of the most respected schools in Korea. When he came to the United States, though, he essentially started over, working long hours to become the successful owner of multiple grocery stores throughout the city. He never talked about work at home, and his wife never asked him about his day. When Henry started asking about his father’s job one evening, his mother pulled him aside and told him not to talk about the grocery stores, explaining that such talk was beneath his father—after all, he had graduated from a highly respected institution in Korea and was only working as a grocer to give Henry a better life; instead of making him talk about the stores, then, Henry should simply keep his father company during his few hours of relaxation. Later, Henry’s mother died when he was only 11, but his father didn’t spend much time mourning their loss—instead, he announced that he and Henry would be moving to a wealthy suburban neighborhood north of the city. Henry hated the idea of this, but his father didn’t care: he thought it was what was best for Henry. Plus, moving into a bigger house in the suburbs was his image of what it meant to succeed in the United States. Not long after they moved, his father hired a young Korean woman—whom he and Henry called Ahjuhma—to care for the house, and though he never showed any feelings for her when Henry was still a child, Henry realized when he was in college that his father and Ahjuhma had become companions and romantic partners. He died shortly after Mitt, but Henry thinks about him often, especially because John Kwang reminds him of the old man.
Henry’s Father Quotes in Native Speaker
The Native Speaker quotes below are all either spoken by Henry’s Father or refer to Henry’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4 Quotes
I know over the years my father and his friends got together less and less. Certainly, after my mother died, he didn’t seem to want to go to the gatherings anymore. But it wasn’t just him. They all got busier and wealthier and lived farther and farther apart. Like us, their families moved to big houses with big yards to tend on weekends, they owned fancy cars that needed washing and waxing. They joined their own neighborhood pool and tennis clubs and were making drinking friends with Americans. […] And in the end my father no longer belonged to any ggeh, he complained about all the disgraceful troubles that were now cropping up, people not paying on time or leaving too soon after their turn getting the money. In America, he said, it’s even hard to stay Korean.
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When Henry’s parents came to the United States, they turned to the local members of the Korean community in New York City for emotional and financial support. Being in a ggeh allowed Henry’s father to raise the funds needed to start a business, but it also provided him with a sense of community and solidarity. Henry’s parents seem to have benefited from engaging in this robust community of Korean immigrants, which uplifted them financially while also easing the pain of leaving their home country behind. And yet, the novel suggests that financial success in the United States can be a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impe
Chapter 5 Quotes
“So what’s her name?” Lelia asked after a moment.
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
I told her that I didn’t know. That I had never known.
“What’s that you call her, then?” she said. “l thought that was her name. Your father calls her that, too.”
“It’s not her name,” I told her. “It’s not her name. It’s just a form of address.”
It was the truth. Lelia had great trouble accepting this stunning ignorance of mine.
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While staying at Henry’s father’s house one summer, Lelia takes an interest in a Korean woman Henry and his father call Ahjuhma, who works as the family’s housekeeper. Lelia becomes uncomfortable when she learns that Henry knows next to nothing about Ahjuhma, despite the fact that she has lived in his father’s house ever since he was 10, having come to work for the Park family shortly after Henry’s mother died. What really appalls her, though, is that Henry doesn’t even know the woman’s real name—“Ahjuhma” is just a Korean address that people use for women who aren’t related to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut.
Chapter 20 Quotes
If anything, I think my father would choose to see my deceptions in a rigidly practical light, as if they were similar to that daily survival he came to endure, the need to adapt, assume an advantageous shape.
My ugly immigrant’s truth, as was his, is that I have exploited my own. […] This forever is my burden to bear. […] Here is the sole talent I ever dared nurture. Here is all of my American education.
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Shortly after sending Hoagland stolen information about Kwang’s organization, Henry thinks about what his father would have thought about his profession. It’s evident that Henry feels somewhat guilty about the many “deceptions” he’s forced to make in his line of work, but he also thinks that his father would see them for what they are: “practical” necessities in a broader struggle to succeed in the United States. To that end, Henry recognizes that he has “exploited [his] own” by working to undermine fellow immigrants like John Kwang, but he also notes that his father did something similar, perhaps alluding to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a
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Henry’s Father Character Timeline in Native Speaker
The timeline below shows where the character Henry’s Father appears in Native Speaker. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...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...
(full context)
Chapter 3
...monitoring a Korean city councilman named John Kwang. Kwang is a little younger than Henry’s father would be right now if he were alive. He’s rich and “self-made,” and the Democratic...
(full context)
...and thought that showing emotion was akin to revealing some kind of personal failure. His father was similar, though he was also the only person who could elicit a smile or...
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Chapter 4
Henry’s father died a year and a half after Mitt’s death. He was a serious man who...
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But nothing Henry said to his father could really hurt him, since his father knew that he had done exactly what he...
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Henry’s father got his start in business through something known as a ggeh, which is a Korean...
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Eventually, Henry’s father moved the family to a wealthy neighborhood in Ardsley, New York. He commuted into the...
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During his childhood and adolescence, Henry worked at his father’s grocery stores. The ones in affluent neighbors on the Upper East Side of Manhattan were...
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Henry’s father was strict with his employees, but he refused to run things any other way. Dealing...
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One night, Henry decided to ask his father about how things were going at the stores, but his mother quickly pulled him to...
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Henry’s father didn’t know what Henry did for work, but he didn’t seem to disapprove of his...
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Chapter 5
Henry thinks back to the period after his mother died. It’s 1971 when his father brings home a young Korean woman from the airport. He doesn’t introduce her to Henry,...
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...start spending the summers in Ardsley with Mitt, staying in a large room above Henry’s father’s garage. Lelia takes an interest in the Korean woman and asks Henry about her one...
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...name, nor does she understand that he often has to stop to think about his father and mother’s names. They always called each other “spouse,” and when someone asks him his...
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Still thinking about his upbringing, Henry recalls conversations in which his father made him second-guess his own position in society. When Henry announced that he was going...
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...ran the house. Once, Henry came home from college and caught Ahjuhma sneaking into his father’s bedroom in the middle of the night. The next day, he looked out the window...
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Chapter 7
...son, Mitt, died at the age of seven. He had a close relationship with Henry’s father, who was patient and attentive to him. Mitt had a good time with the old...
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...what happened when he was a kid and other boys called him racist names: his father went around to the houses of the boys who called Henry names, but he acquiesced...
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Chapter 8
John Kwang makes Henry think of his father. He’s confident that his father would have admired Kwang, who—like him—is clearly a hard worker....
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Chapter 9
...Hoagland because it feels like an unforgivable thing to do, like reporting on his own father or mother.
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Chapter 14
Henry meets Lelia in Ardsley to start clearing out his father’s house. Lelia has already started the task, since she went up shortly after Henry’s father...
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Chapter 15
Lelia laughs at the ignorance of American soldiers like her father. But then she says she would have lost her mind with anger if any of...
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Chapter 18
...a rotating fashion to the people in his “money club.” Henry often thinks about his father while doing this work, knowing that he would have found it insane to create a...
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Chapter 19
...more—he doesn’t have to treat him like an elder. He is, after all, not Henry’s father, nor is he Henry’s friend. They’re now standing inches apart from each other. After a...
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Chapter 20
...But then he recognizes that this feeling is little more than the same “burden” his father bore when he was alive. His “ugly immigrant’s truth,” he thinks, is that he has...
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Chapter 22
...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...
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