ipl-logo

Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Essay

806 Words4 Pages

Author Lewis Carroll once said, “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” Throughout Jamie Ford’s novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, the reader can see that once the past is brought up, more conflict occurs. As the characters in the book interact with one another, each of them change in different ways. Ford creatively includes unique struggles throughout the family and friends surrounding Henry in order to show growth. This novel helps shape Henry’s character by exploring many conflicts that push Henry to face his problems and learn from them.
One of the main relationships in this novel is the one Henry has with his father. Growing up in Henry’s home, he was taught to obey his parents, especially his father, at all times. Henry was not allowed to speak Cantonese with his parents anymore because they wanted him to be as American as he could. This immediately created a barrier between him and his father, who only spoke …show more content…

From being with her in the kitchen at the elementary school to getting into the Black Elks club to watch Henry, his heart becomes soft for this girl. Keiko is Japanese and is bullied and treated accordingly. When President Roosevelt sent all the Japanese to internment camps, Henry realized how much he would losing if he let her go. He tried everything from trying to persuade her hide out with his aunt to wearing his “I am chinese” button. He even snuck in overnight to see her. “‘And what if you get caught?’ ‘That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? I’d get to stay here with you.’ Keiko smiled . . . Henry continued, ‘I’ll be waiting for you when this is over.’” (232) Henry had ever so hopefully wanted to wait for her, but once her letters stopped coming he started to lose that hope. Yes, Ethel came along and they got married, but it was Keiko who taught him to love and experience happiness. Even through these trials, Henry learned to

Show More
Related

Summary Of Mary Matsuda Gruenewald's Looking Like The Enemy

1284 Words | 6 Pages

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald tells her tale of what life was like for her family when they were sent to internment camps in her memoir “Looking like the Enemy.” The book starts when Gruenewald is sixteen years old and her family just got news that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japan. After the bombing Gruenewald and her family life changed, they were forced to leave their home and go to internment camps meant for Japanese Americans. During the time Gruenewald was in imprisonment she dealt with the struggle for survival both physical and mental. This affected Gruenewald great that she would say to herself “Am I Japanese?

Read More

Summary Of Fiddle To Canada By Heather Monley

623 Words | 3 Pages

It seems that all of the children’s memories are tarnished. The children are not sure they can tell the difference between what they thought they had experienced and what has been shared with them. The central idea is that current events can cause a person to reexamine the past.

Read More

Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Quotes

957 Words | 4 Pages

Henry Lee, the protagonist, has many relationships, specifically with his father, Marty, and Keiko, that are

Read More

Analysis Of Morning Rain By Sigrid Nunez

1001 Words | 5 Pages

In ‘Chang’ there is practically no common language between Carlos, the father, his wife and daughters. The narrator speculates about the beginnings of the relationship between her mother and father. She says: ‘How did they communicate? She had had a little English in school. He learned a bit of German.

Read More

Theme Of Conflict In Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet

763 Words | 4 Pages

Edgar Allen Poe, a brilliant author, once said, “Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.” In the novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford, several characters encounter this type of conflict, specifically the main character Henry. Throughout the novel, several conflicts occur, and the time frame of the setting emphasizes these conflicts. This novel takes place during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which was an attack by the Japanese.

Read More

Farewell To Manzanar By Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

1622 Words | 7 Pages

Her view demonstrates the personal experiences and hardships each man was going through, how the war affected them differently, and the disagreement on what occurred afterward. The attitude towards the United States by Japanese Americans after being held in internment because of the government was split in two ways: either despising the country and how it disrespected them, or, felt like it was their duty to exhibit how they belonged to this country and being a good American, even after everything that was endured. This distinction between these two sides is exemplified through the course of the book and the character development that both men go through. Ko Wakatsuki was a good man, and a good one to his family.

Read More

Racism In Otsuka's When The Emperor Was Divine

536 Words | 3 Pages

The boy’s description of the Japanese prisoners shows that he’s assimilated the prevalent racist beliefs about Japanese people. Using racially insensitive language, the boy expresses the stereotype that “all Asian people look alike.” Additionally, their perceived “inscrutability” was the exact reason why the U.S. government locked up innocent Japanese Americans citizens in the first place. According to Otsuka (2003), "On the first day of the camp, the mother tells him to never touch the fences and to never to say the Emperor’s name aloud".

Read More

Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Character Analysis

1174 Words | 5 Pages

The novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, written by Jamie Ford, displays how a boy lived when he was younger in 1942 and when he was older in 1986. The character goes back and forth from past to present showing the struggles he overcame when he was a boy to the present time. The hardships this character went through in his younger years often led him to reflect on the past and try not to make similar mistakes that he or others around him made. Within Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, the author presents Henry with hardships with his dad, his son, and his friend showing how these challenges shaped him to be the person he grew up to be.

Read More

Themes In When The Emperor Was Divine

753 Words | 4 Pages

Just because of the way they look like. Shortly after that they forced into an internment camp where other people like them stayed. Allowing to only receive a few censored letters from the children’s father who was alleged to be a Japanese spy according to the US Government. Together they struggle to

Read More

Yum's Character From 'Anthem': Change And Personal Growth

1574 Words | 7 Pages

On Day 27 in the internment camps, something in Yum-Yum changed, now she sneaks out with her friends and boyfriend as soon as she puts her brother to sleep. She stays out for hours or even minutes, she likes to think of her and her friends outside like a regular day in California, like they are regular teenagers and there are no camps. In the chapter she states “But at night, I am someone else. I sneak out after he’s fallen asleep, and I wander the camp. Sometimes Keiko joins me.

Read More

Unpolished Gem Analysis

935 Words | 4 Pages

Alice presents the idea that the relationship between Chinese children and their parents is one quite different from that of Australian children and their parents. ‘These were questions Chinese children never asked their parents.’ (Page 144) She suggests that different etiquette and customs are undertaken and that the bond between them differs. Alice alludes to the idea that these differences in the home are the foundation for the differences Alice perceives socially.

Read More

A Place Where The Soul Can Rest By Belle Hooks Analysis

614 Words | 3 Pages

“It invites one to be still, to hear divine voices speak” (hooks,125). This quote from A Place Where the Soul Can Rest by belle hooks describes the importance of the front porches to African American women who faced issues and judgment regarding their race, gender, and social standing. The porch signifies a place in which these women can relax, and escape not only from their household duties, but from all of the discrimination they face in their own neighborhoods.    In the essay, the author herself reflects on her childhood as a young African American, and how her life was affected by racism, sexism, and gender stereotypes and roles. As a child, hooks’ place of safety and security lied on her front porch, where she was able to escape

Read More

The Time Traveler's Wife Summary

1071 Words | 5 Pages

Although the younger version of Henry stays at the older version for five days without meeting Clare, he thinks that he need to cherish his

Read More

The Importance Of Communication In The Joy Luck Club

1225 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the entire novel, the mothers and daughters face inner struggles, family conflict, and societal collision. The divergence of cultures produces tension and miscommunication, which effectively causes the collision of American morals, beliefs, and priorities with Chinese culture which

Read More

Of Mice And Men Literary Analysis Essay

737 Words | 3 Pages

Of Mice and Men; A Literary Analysis “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that 's why,” says George in the book Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck wrote this book about two boys who took care of each other mentally and physically throughout. They endure many journeys together and are able to suffice over very little. They show the strength in friendships in many dissimilar ways and make diligent decisions that some may never be able to make. Of Mice and Men is not only about two friends and their journey together, but as well as giving one a deeper meaning of the book, such as showing the nature of their dreams, the characters as archetypes, and if the killing of Lennie is justified in the end.

Read More

More about Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Essay

Related Topics

Open Document