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Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet By Jamie Ford

910 Words4 Pages

A person’s identity is rarely found to be consistent, as people are always changing, similar to Henry’s identity. Living in a society where being a certain race is not something that people accept is a struggle for one, it leads to someone wanting to change themselves to be accepted. One’s identity changes because of the desire to “fit in” with an unaccepting society. Henry’s story takes place during World War II, as his father constantly harasses him about the Japanese, but to his father’s surprise, his one and only friend is a Japanese girl. In Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Author Jamie Ford uses identity to display the change of Henry’s character from childhood to adulthood; the risky actions he partakes in and the relationship …show more content…

Keiko is the reason why Henry dares to speak up to his father, even though it would mean he has to disobey him. Henry’s identity of disregarding his parents mainly his father is why his family relationship changed, his father has no more trust in him even saying “Saang jan”(Ford 207), meaning that Henry is a stranger to him.“I am what you made me, Father” (Ford 185), the words that just spill out of Henry’s mouth, showing his retaliation against his father, as he speaks up. Although Henry believes that what he does for Keiko is right, it harms his family's relationship as his father no longer wants to be associated with him. Henry struggles with his identity, questioning sometimes if he’s too “American” or too “Chinese”. As a student who is of Chinese heritage, students at Rainier Elementary view Henry as a foreigner, even though he was born in an American hospital and speaks English. On the other hand, Chinese students who attend Chinese schools view him as an American for not attending the same school as them and speaking a language other than

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(Ford 40) Their silence reminds me of the dispute that Henry had with his father when he walked out to retrieve Keiko’s photo album. Henry it's perfect in parenthood, but ultimately he reached out to Marty and tells him about Keiko. As they connect, Henry thinks about the past and started to learn from it which caused him to construct a greater relationship with his son because he didn't have a chance with his own Father. the book, the reader also learns about Henry's earlier life, and what happened to Keiko.

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Henry’s father does not like Keiko and Henry has to make a decision, “Stubbornly Henry refused to give into his fathers wishes, his father wanted nothing to do with Keiko. And had disowned him. Henry couldn’t set that aside. So he stayed, and continued scholarshipping.” (241) When Henry’s parents learn about Keiko his dad is very angry at him, but his mom takes it well and is very

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Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Character Traits

1031 Words | 5 Pages

Henry’s father has extreme feelings towards certain subjects or groups of people. Specifically, Henry’s father is against the Japanese because of the war that is currently going on, but little does he know, his son’s only friend is of Japanese descent. When Henry’s parents discovered all of Keiko’s belongings that he was hiding, that was the lowest and possibly breaking point of their relationship. Following that incident, “Henry thought about his parents. They hadn’t spoken a word to him in nearly a week.

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Early on in the novel, it is revealed that Henry’s father “hated the Japanese” (14) whereas Henry’s closest friend is Japanese American. Although Mr. Lee did not know Keiko, he already felt a sense of hatred toward her. Henry’s mother discloses Mr. Lee’s intent as explained in the following passage: “Where your father comes from, it was nothing but war. War with Japan. They invaded Northern China, killing many, many people.

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Although Henry looked up to his father and wanted to change many things his father did while parenting, he still loved and cared for his father, especially when he had a stroke and Henry saw Him dying. Even though he kept the letters, Henry sent them out to Keiko to protect Henry in a way Henry could not quite understand. In addition to Henry and his father's relationship. Henry thought that culturally he was supposed not to have a close relationship with his son just like he did with his father.

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But, in Henry’s family, they start to turn on Henry when his father finds out that he is still friends with the Japanese girl that he had previously said Henry could not see anymore. This has a major effect on the family, “His father pointed at the door, ‘If you walk out that door—if you walk out that door now, you are no longer part of this family. You are no longer Chinese. You are not part of us anymore. Nor a part of me.’

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