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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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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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