Language, Cultural Identities, and Multiculturalism in Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker: A Sociological Perspective

Abstract

Deep into the novel, an inarticulate sense of unease in the psyche of Henry Park is explored being extremely disturbed, and an outcast. Trapped being in American-Korean identity, he has got his impression on his wife, Lilia beings ‘emotional alien’, ‘yellow peril: neo-American,’ ‘stranger/follower/traitor/spy’. In addition, she speaks of him being a ‘False speaker of Language’ because Henry looks listening to her attentively; following her executing language word by word like someone resembling a non-native speaker. In fact, the cultural differences between the Korean-American and the Native American bring tension around the ways the English language is used.