In this era of surging global mobility, migrant experiences in the process of acculturation and assimilation have become one of the major themes in the literary scene. A notable and acclaimed accomplishment in this regard is Chang-rae Lee’s first novel Native Speaker, which portrays the plight of a Korean American who anguishes stoically about his ‘incorrect’ English language and insecure sense of identity. Through the protagonist Henry Park’s eyes, the author analyses the anxiety of a self-exiled native speaker who is overcautious about his English language lest he should be defined as a non-native speaker. This anxiety is ascribed to the repressive and abusive language education in his childhood which enforces ‘the standard’ and ‘the canon’ of English. His decision on his career as a spy is a manifestation of his withdrawal from the real life to escape from this anxiety. Being a spy means being a camera-eye recording things happening around him, not really participating in the scene, but still present. This mode of presence/absence reflects the predicament of the immigrant/stranger, who is a member of the society but counted as a stranger to be tolerated and, if needed, to be expelled. No explicit solution is presented to this self-contradictory stance, and the downfall of John Kang hints that political campaign is not one. Rather, in the epiphanical moments when various versions of languages are mixed and other languages are recognised and respected, the anxiety about the language and immigrant identity are resolved. This is also the moment when the hospitality, which, as Derrida prescribes to address the conflicts among cultures, welcomes and accepts the other without any conditions, is exercised.

This study is to discuss Morrison’s counter-writing of the 1950s American society in view of the critical perspectives of racist practices in Home. In Home, Morrison debunks American regard for the 1950s as a period of peace and prosperity. In the novel, Frank Money is a “racial outcast” of the 1950s American society. He is suffering from the war trauma because he watched his two best friends dying cruelly in front of him, and was responsible for killing numerous people, including a young Korean girl. However, roaming the streets as a drunkard and derelict, he is locked in the veteran’s mental hospital. In the social negligence and oppression, Frank plays a role as a Morrison critic of 1950s American society. After escaping from a psychiatric ward, he travels to Atlanta where his sister waits for his help to escape from the clutches of a white racist doctor. In this process, he explores racial violence which Morrison captures with travelling imagery. Finally, he, with his sister, makes his way back to his hometown. Although reflecting the social isolation and economic poverty of the 1950s African American community. his hometown leads him to relief from traumatic pain and to resurrection of family bonds.

Alice Walker is a prominent contemporary African-American novelist who coined “womanist” to inspire black women to strive to achieve their liberty and identities against the sexual and racial oppression upon themselves. This paper aims to analyze and explore Walker’s three representative novels to understand black women’s resistance against the double domination and their journey towards self-independence, through which the spirit of “womanism” is vividly embodied. As regards to the double oppression of black women, Walker advocates building up “women’s league,” which ushers in their path of liberation. In the league, women and men compose together the hymn of the harmonious co-existence with love and understanding.