Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Summary

The tense relationship between Henry and his father in Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet arises from their inability to communicate effectively as a result of their conflicting desires regarding their cultural opinions. Henry's father is an anti-Japanese Chinese person, and he has Henry attend an all-white school, and he additionally mandates he speak English at home. As Henry’s dad does not understand English yet is forcing his son not to speak the language around him, they have no way to communicate, resulting in a severe loss of communication between the two. Young Henry Lee stopped talking to his parents when he was twelve years old. Not because of some silly childhood tantrum, but because they asked him to. That was

Which only made Henry more confused when his father pinned a button to his school shirt that read, 'I am Chinese! The contrast seemed absurd. This makes no sense, he thought. My father's pride has finally got the better of him" (Ford 23). Overall, although it might seem that this approach of wanting Henry to speak English might seem a bit stubborn, it shows how much he cares about his son fitting in and being able to understand the primary language in the country, even if he can’t. Despite Henry’s father's best efforts to try and integrate him with the other students and make sure he doesn’t stand out, Henry is picked on quite often. He is a scholar-shipper, which means he has to work to maintain his spot at his school. This makes him feel on the outside having to work while his classmates are eating lunch, and bullies recognize this and pick on him for it. Henry often runs into conflict with these bullies, resulting in him being terrified. "Unfortunately, Chaz Preston and Denny Brown, who were on flag duty, were unlikely to move away, anytime soon, regardless of what they did. He liked to lean on people. He was so mean other bullies feared him." Ford

Henry often has disputes with his father about the decisions he makes for him. They often have conversations about their problems, such as their views on Japanese, but it is very hard to make progress as Henry’s father stubbornly makes him speak English, which he doesn’t understand. “He listened to his father during these lopsided, one-way conversations, but he never talked back. In fact, Henry rarely talked at all, except in English to acknowledge his advancing skills. But since his father understood only Cantonese and a little Mandarin, the conversations came as waves, back and forth, tidal shores of separate oceans.” (48) When examining Henry's family dynamics, point of view has a genuine impact on conflict. Henry sees his father as both manipulative and uncaring. However, his father believes he is doing what is best for his son. It is because neither side understands the other's point of view. Ultimately, a man-versus-man conflict emerges, and it is never really resolved. In this final passage, the author describes Henry’s father’s hatred for the Japanese Americans. Between Pearl Harbor and just the Chinese “tradition” of hating the Japanese, there are many ways that Henry’s dad can try and justify his hate of the Japanese. However, as Henry’s relationship with his father is already so torn, there is little chance of him repairing anything, as he