Reading Chang-Rae Lee’s “Native Speaker” has added to the identity issue of Asian American Literature that we have looked at in our class and also has more to offer. One of the first things that I found interesting was on page 20 when Harry is talking about Bruce Lee. The other man that he is talking with says that he has all the Bruce Lee movies memorized. I find this stereotypical. It’s like saying that African American people have every 50 cent song memorized or that every woman is going to vote for Hillary Clinton simply because these people are a certain race or a certain gender. Throughout this section of reading there was a load of labeling. Certain ones I picked up on were religious (Catholic, Presbyterian, Jewish), political (Republican, Democrat), and racial/cultural (Asian, African American, American). These labels do help to identify people, but I felt like it was only adding to stereotypes and the different prejudices that people have against each other. A good example of this was when Harry ran into the woman, Janice, and she talks about having dated Asians in college. She mentions the name John Kim and asks if Harry knows him. Harry lets it go, but it was very stereotypical. Like Harry explains, the name John Kim is very common in Asian families. Kim is the same as the last name Smith in America and the same goes with the name John. Just because someone is Asian doesn’t mean that they know every Asian person.
Another thing that I found interesting in this reading was Harry’s family. He admits that his dad wasn’t the typical immigrant. His dad was into gambling and other types of not so honorable practices. The section where the story flashes back to Harry’s childhood shows how his mom and dad were seen by Harry. After Harry’s mom died, his dad just kind of fell apart. His dad said to Harry on page 51, “In American…it’s even hard to stay Korean.” It’s almost like his dad is trying to show Harry that without Korea and his mom and all the things that he knows, Harry and his dad won’t be able to stay Korean in the American society and the American world. His father stresses that shame and pride are two of the most important things. This obviously means something to Harry because he remembers it and it flashes back to him. Also, the line “They’ll bring you down” is something that rings in Harry’s head because he remembers it even when he is older. He doesn’t want anyone to bring him down.
So far this book has been interesting. It reminds me of a movie and I can picture the different characters in my head. The one character that stands out the most for me right now is Hoagland. He is interesting because he is like the characters in movies that are very loud and obnoxious, but you still like them. He has a certain likable personality.
This book looks like it will have lots more both plot and character-wise. That’s it for now. Later.
2 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
I agree that Native Speaker has alot to do with the Identity Crisis. Henry was raised in an environment where not many emotions were shown, and now his relationship between him and his wife has suffered. Henry does not speak much of Mitt and Lelia’s main questions were about how Henry never speaks of Mitt and his death. Lelia also didnt understand how Henry does not even know the name of the woman that raised him!
Yay Matt for finally blogging! Anyways, I found it interesting too as to what Henry’s dad said about living in America makes it harder for someone to say true to their culture. This plays true for many cultures, yet we only see it happening in this book. Other books, such as Woman Warrior and Nisei Daughter all portraryed the parents (the immigrants) as staying true to who they were and wanting to either go back to their homeland or still carrying out traditions. Clearly living in America has had an effect on Herny; his job alone is “Americanized”, with the the spying and being sneaky. In America, it’s pretty much every person for himself. I think Henry is toying with the idea of having “shame” and “pride” be the most important things in someone’s life. He seems to not know where he, as a person belongs, and is struggling to identify with one of these things.