Bye Native Speaker

April 8, 2008 bonkie02

Wrapping up this book and discussing it in class made me realize that everyone, no matter their race, can feel out of place. When we were reading books like Woman Warrior and The Nisei Daughter we see that the women had problems dealing with their heritage and culture while the men were just there. But in Native Speaker you see that Henry felt shame about being Korean so much that he tried to change everything about himself so he can be as American as he can be. But honestly what does it mean to be American? Most people think that Americans are Caucasian and speak English and have everything that they ever wanted. However being an American I can safely say that I do not have everything I want and looking at my friends and other people in Albany I see that some people are of different skin color and that they have accents and look different from everyone else. I think that the language, whether its not English or how you pronounce a word, makes a person unique; it makes you different from everyone else. I think that when Henry doesn’t hear people talking in different languages he misses how America allowed people to speak in a different language. He realized that language was what he loved about this country. While I was reading about how Henry felt guilty that he handed over the list of illegal prostitutes because they get rounded up at night and sent back to their country. Although it is heartbreaking that these people were deported there is a part of me that feels that these people don’t belong here. Also I think that Henry did the right thing because sooner or later the aliens were going to get caught and letting them live in America for a long time and letting them think that they have everything and are doing well is worse than getting deported and not knowing what you will miss. I think that language and the unique-ness of people regardless of there skin color or nationality is what it means to be American.

I have to be honest when I was reading about Kwang and how he was with prostitutes I giggled a little bit not because it was funny but because it reminded me of the scandal with Spitzer. It’s crazy that Kwang was alike Spitzer with that aspect and that he was like Obama because he was a different race.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized

One Comment Add your own

• 1. aae619  |  April 9, 2008 at 3:39 pm

  I agree with your statement about how any race can feel out of place. we are all, at some point, out of our comfort zone. Most everyone gets that feeling of being the odd man out. Your points about stereotypical America, having everything we want, is also a good point. When someone outside of the United States thinks of America, they think of rich snobs. but thats not true because we work for what we have.

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to comments via RSS Feed