Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Character Analysis

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. Henry struggles to have a close relationship with his son Marty which may be because of

When growing up Marty had a very close relationship with his mother which hindered how close of a relationship he had with his father. Once Henry’s wife Ethal passed from cancer he and his son Marty fell away from each other and did not talk as much. When Marty started talking about college and how that was going their relationship improved and Marty felt he could tell his father about his fiance Samantha. Henry invited his son Marty and his fiance Samantha to join him in looking for his friend Keiko's lost belongings in the basement of the Panama Hotel. while they were looking through the basement of the Paname hotel Henry shared with his son about his early life. This discussion helped Marly to gain a better understanding of who his father really was as noted in the following passage:

Marty had grown up, all these years, assuming Henry was like his grandfather. A zealous man, passionate about the old ways and the Old Country. Someone who harbored enmity toward his neighbors, especially the Japanese ones. Clinging to leftover feelings from the war years. It never dawned on his son that Henry’s steep passion for tradition, his stodgy old-world habits, could be for any other reason.

No one was there to support him when he was younger. When Henry starting school at Rainier Emelmentry he became friends with Keiko which he felt she was the only person he could honestly talk to and understand his feelings. Keiko had been there for Henry when his parents had stopped talking to him and Henry chose not to stop seeing her even though he knew his friendship with Keiko was the reason for his parent's silent treatment. Henry continued the friendship and even tried to see Keiko when she was moved to an internment camp. Their relationship grew and stayed strong, if not stronger, when Keiko was taken to another camp farther away. Henry traveled to see her after she wrote in her letters she would not be writing anymore because she did not want to be the reason for Henry and his father's poor relationship. When he was able to see her in the camp he came to say a proper goodbye. Henry states “Not the way I should have. I was so worried about my family. Worried about everything. I was confused. I didn’t know what I wanted. I didn’t know what goodbye really was.” (222) After Henry said goodbye to Keiko he went back home and told his dad he would agree to be sent to a school that his father wanted him to go to. This caused his parents to start talking to him again. One of the last letters Henry sent to Keiko before going to school was sent back with a return address saying that whoever was sent the