210 doubt, suspicion, and guilt that continuously plagued him. Thus, the novel ends with a positive note of Henry's rebirth and his newly found love and appreciation for the disparate accents and cacophonies around him in the city of New York, which he calls "a city of words" (344). Wearing a "a green rubber hood" and playing the role of the "Speech Monster" (348), Henry assists Lelia in a language game designed to teach ESL children an important lesson that "there is nothing to fear" and "it's fine to mess it all up" (349). At the end of the lesson, Henry takes off his mask and embraces the children, who are often surprised to see the revealed identity of the voice behind the mask and check that the voice matches the face, perhaps possibly more so because of Henry's Asian features. In the meantime, Lelia gives out a sticker to each child, saying, "Everybody ... has been a good citizen" (349). She calls out "all the difficult names of who we are" as best as she can, "taking care of every last pitch and accent" (349). Some critics view Lee's portrayal of Henry's new life and its celebratory tone with skepticism. It is true that, as Tina Chen argues, there is an element of imposture and pretense continuing in Henry's new job, and it might be premature to rejoice in Henry's liberation from the mask and impersonation that negatively summed up his previous profession of espionage.328 Yet Henry's performance as the Speech Monster is an act of disguise with a totally different import. At the crux of his previous work of spy were his docile assimilative desire and his social abjection as a minority. His carefully measured, guarded speech, which Lelia once called in frustration "the Henryspeak" (6), was just one facet of his work that demanded a constant policing of all aspects of his life so that he could abide by the mantra of espionage that his boss Hoagland instilled in him: "'Just stay in the background. Be unapparent and flat. Speak enough so they can hear your