Native Speaker Quotes

“emotional alien… stranger… spy.” (Chapter 1)

– Lelia

Analysis: Just before she leaves on a solo vacation, Lelia gives Henry a list of phrases she thinks describe him. Several of them relate to his skill at concealing his emotions and how that makes him a stranger to her, someone who cannot truly be known.

“Our work is but a string of serial identity.” (Chapter 3)

– Henry Park

Analysis: With this metaphor, Henry draws a parallel between being a spy and being a cultural newcomer. As a spy, he takes on personas for an assignment and then discards them when it is complete. Assimilating into American culture feels much the same—performing an identity that isn’t natural.

“To tell him I loved him, I studied far into the night.” (Chapter 7)

– Henry Park

Analysis: Henry explains that to express love for his father, he had to rely on actions, not words. Expressing emotions on the face or through words was frowned upon in his family. So instead, he studied hard, shined his shoes, and “never made an error at shortstop.”

“There is something universally chilling about a new plot.” (Chapter 8)

– Henry Park

Analysis: Henry describes how his son used to be anxious when a new bedtime story was read to him. But this comment also suggests the way Henry feels he must create a new identity that is not only Korean or only American—something new. As a biracial child, Mitt may be seen as a representation of this newness.

“You understand respect and distance and separateness.” (Chapter 10)

– Jack Kalantzakos

Analysis: Jack’s assessment of Henry is that he has these admirable traits but that he has taken them to extremes. He believes these traits have become a limitation for Henry and will ruin his marriage for good if he doesn’t learn to moderate them.

“So we stay silent in our guises.” (Chapter 12)

– John Kwang

Analysis: John Kwang observes that being a politician means other people construct an image of you that they prefer, even if it isn’t always true. He notes that as an Asian, he does not want to be rude, so he goes along. But here he describes the same struggle with expressing a true identity that Henry feels.

“I will not hush or so handle my heart.” (Chapter 15)

– Henry Park

Analysis: An emotional turning point comes the night Henry and Lelia learn about the fire. For Lelia, the idea that Henry might have been hurt or killed brings back the grief of losing Mitt. Henry knows he can no longer retreat from her emotionally. He has to make a change.

“In every betrayal dwells a self-betrayal, which brings you that much closer to a reckoning.” (Chapter 20)

– Henry Park

Analysis: As Henry becomes close with John Kwang, he also collects and passes insider information on the politician to his firm. He feels worse about this as time goes on, and his betrayal of Kwang, another Korean American, feels like a betrayal of self. The reckoning he must face is that he has used John Kwang just as his father used and exploited the immigrants who worked for him in the grocery stores.

“Over the mountains there are mountains.” (Chapter 22)

– Henry’s mother

Analysis: Henry’s mother’s saying expresses her worldview that life is made up of suffering and hard work because the world will always put a new obstacle in front of you, a new mountain to climb.

“I hear her… calling all the difficult names of who we are.” (Chapter 23)

– Henry Park

Analysis: The final scene takes place in a school where Lelia has brought Henry to assist her in teaching a speech class. Many of the children have names reflecting their specific ethnicity. She takes care to pronounce them all correctly. This scene shows unity between Henry and Lelia, where once there was separation. It also shows that Henry has now found a way to help heal the divisions around him rather than contribute to them.