Native Speaker Themes

Language and Culture

In Native Speaker, Korean American Henry Park speaks both Korean and English. These two languages reflect the two cultures he navigates. It is difficult for Henry to bridge these two cultures, in part because they are so different from one another. This difference is well illustrated in a scene in which Lelia discovers that he does not know the name of his father’s housekeeper. He has been calling her by a Korean form of address, “ahjuhma,” similar to “ma’am.” When Lelia learns the truth, she feels as though she doesn’t know Henry at all. Language reveals the divide between them.

Language reveals the cultural divide in other ways. Throughout, Henry notes that some things can only be said in Korean, while others can only be said in English. Henry presents Korean as formal and scripted, suited to ritualistic interactions based on hierarchy and role. English is better for joking and expressing emotions. Readers will note that Henry deliberately separates the languages, similar to the way in which he walls off his emotions.

Though Henry is fluent in both languages, the author makes a point of showing that his mastery of them is flawed. His Korean is sometimes hesitant and stumbling. His English is, according to Lelia, too careful. The limitations of his language skills illustrate his position between two cultures, not fully embodying one or the other. He is not a “native speaker” of either culture, so he must find a way to speak that is his own.

Immigrants and Identity

Part of what propels Native Speaker forward is Henry’s struggle to forge his own identity from the space between two cultural identities. As the son of an immigrant who lives in and between two cultures, Henry Park has a dual role to play in the world. His true identity, though, is something new that comes from being caught between these double consciousnesses.

Henry encounters a similar struggle with identity in his work. As a spy, he plays many roles, and he plays them well—sometimes too well. His ability to perform both Korean and American identities lends itself to a career putting on, then discarding, personae. He speculates whether changing identities so often causes him to see himself not as one integrated man but as a series of men. He wonders which identity is the true one for someone in his profession. In many ways, his job as a spy is a symbol of his experience trying to fit in as an American.

His job spying on John Kwang, another Korean American, blurs the line between real and false identities, as Henry has to use parts of his real life to seem authentic. It also blurs an ethical line. Should Henry, as a Korean American, really be doing opposition research on a man who seems a shining example of a successful Korean American? Should he be leveraging his Korean heritage to bring down another Korean, a friend, a father figure? This moral dilemma puts Henry’s sense of self to the test. He must grapple with where his loyalty lies as he discovers how to truly be himself.

Alienation and Division

Native Speaker shows the many ways in which people can be separated from one another. The novel is set amidst the ethnic and social divisions that pervade American society. The casual racism of white people toward Asians and tension between Koreans and African Americans are important aspects of the plot. The hostility of Americans toward “illegals” also comes into play.

Secrets—kept intentionally or simply by omission—keep characters apart and stifle their ability to know each other. Keeping secrets is an everyday part of Henry’s career as a spy. In Henry’s family, certain topics are taboo. His father’s previous career path as an engineer, for example, is not revealed to Henry for years after his father has established himself in America as a grocer. His mother refuses to speak of it, lest she cause her husband embarrassment. Henry finds it strange that he had not known this basic thing about his father.

Yet how this separation plays out on the personal level comes through more urgently. In the opening scene, Lelia and Henry’s marriage is coming apart, and she is literally making space between them by going away on a solo vacation. The physical separation of the characters is the result of an emotional one. His upbringing taught him to hide his emotions. His mother “believed that displays of emotion signaled a certain failure between people.” His father can quickly put aside grief. While such emotional control is valued in Henry’s Korean family, it makes him emotionally unavailable for his wife. Part of Henry’s journey is to heal the division between himself and Lelia. In doing so, he finds a role in the healing of cultural division as well.