Native Speaker

by

Chang-rae Lee

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Native Speaker makes teaching easy.

Mayor De Roos Character Analysis

Mayor De Roos is the mayor of New York City and one of John Kwang’s political opponents. De Roos is actually a Democrat just like Kwang, and he even helped the councilman at the beginning of his (Kwang’s) career. Now, though, he’s worried that Kwang will run for mayor, so he subtly criticizes him in the media. His main tactic is to imply that Kwang uses illegitimate tactics to organize the immigrant community, accusing him of paying people to support him.
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Mayor De Roos Character Timeline in Native Speaker

The timeline below shows where the character Mayor De Roos appears in Native Speaker. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
Identity and Multiculturalism Theme Icon
Racism and Xenophobia Theme Icon
...mayor, though he himself has denied that this is his intention. Still, the current mayor, De Roos , is clearly nervous about Kwang’s ascendancy, so his associates have been subtly trying to... (full context)
Identity and Multiculturalism Theme Icon
Racism and Xenophobia Theme Icon
...the councilman is a “media darling” who seems somewhat unbeatable, but the fact remains that Mayor De Roos is an experienced politician who knows how to compete. Because the press likes Kwang so... (full context)
Chapter 9
Identity and Multiculturalism Theme Icon
Racism and Xenophobia Theme Icon
Mayor De Roos has been subtly attacking John Kwang by criticizing his involvement in the grocer boycotts happening... (full context)
Chapter 19
Silence, Language, and Communication Theme Icon
...operation and reporting it to someone. Kwang thinks he was probably spying on behalf of Mayor De Roos . Kwang decided to let the Korean gang deal with Eduardo, though he claims that... (full context)