THE END! :) April 29, 2007

             Yay!  It’s our last post for the semester!  I mean, not that it hasn’t been great and all! Haha.  Anyways, as we complete this semester we read Native Speaker.  I still have not completely figured out how I feel toward this book.  I must admit that it was an easier read than some, but it was also difficult at the same time.  This book had several flashbacks which made it confusing to follow.  For me, unless it is something visual, following flashbacks in a book is really complicated.  I had a hard time following it at times. 

            All throughout this book there has been this whole idea about language and Henry’s “obsession” with it.  It keeps popping up in various places.  In the beginning, when he had to try so hard to say Lelia.  It occurred when Mitt was meeting new friends and they taught them all the racial slurs.  It happened at the end of the book when Henry got his new job working with his wife with the children with the speech problems.  From beginning to end this was a major theme.  What was the significance of all of this?  Well, to me it set up how the story was going to be played out.  It began with this struggle with the language and saying Lelia’s name which led to many other struggles that he had to go through.  The struggle with his wife, their child and his job.  However, in the end it is what brought him and his wife back together.  Quite interesting I thought.