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Similarities Between Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet

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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, shows the struggles and triumphs throughout Henry Lee as a child and as an adult. Ford compares his life as a boy growing up, to the present when Henry has his own family. Henry wants to be a good father for his son, after he had a bad relationship with his own father growing up. Marty Henry’s son grew up like Henry not being very close with his father.

Henry grows up in an extremely traditional Chinese household. Henry’s father is a Chinese nationalist who is always pushing Henry to be a patriotic Chinese American. When Henry’s father learns that he is friends with a Japanese girl he refuses to talk to Henry for years. Henry’s father is very involved with the war and is very against …show more content…

He is sent to Rainier Elementary on a scholarship and his father is very proud of this. At Rainier Elementary Henry meets a girl named Keiko. Keiko is Japaneseand she and Henry being the only two not American, become good friends quickly. Keiko grew up in the Japanese part of Seattle with her mom and dad. Her parents are excited to meet Henry and are very thankful when he stores some of their treasured belongings. 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 …show more content…

Henry knows what it is like to not be close to your father/son and he wants to be close to Marty. Marty and Henry struggled with the loss of Ethel and when she passed away they are the only family they have left. In the end of the story Marty and Henry become closer and Henry finds the father-son relationship he never had with his own father. When Marty tells Henry that he is engaged Henry reacts the opposite of how Henry’s father had when he learned about Keiko. Henry likes Marty’s Fiance Samantha, and he thinks that they will all get along and like each

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Summary Of Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet

855 Words | 4 Pages

Their relationship echos the hassles Henry had with his parents. I noticed that Henry had a difficult time communicating with his son, Marty. “Now father and son waited in silence, ignoring the carts of dim sum that rolled by. The awkward moment was interrupted by the crash of plates somewhere in the kitchen, punctuated by men swearing at each other in Chinese and English. There was much to say and ask, but neither Henry nor Marty inched closer to the subject”.

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Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Character Traits

1031 Words | 5 Pages

Henry’s dad thinks negatively of them. During one of his arguments with Henry, he says, “this Japanese girl. Japanese! She’s a daughter of the butchers of my people” (183). Henry’s dad blames the Japanese, including Japanese Americans, for the war and the hardships that are taking place in the 1940s.

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Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Quotes

894 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel, we learn Jamie Ford’s developed tone towards defining one’s nationality based on their race. Ford wants the reader to know that one’s race does not always have to do with their nationality. In this case, Henry’s race is Chinese, but he identifies as an

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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.

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Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Quotes

1064 Words | 5 Pages

This takes place when Henry is needing to help Keiko and keep his promise by protecting her families photos, but his father is being unreasonable because he is a major Chinese Nationalist, so rather than trying to reason with Henry, or negotiate with him, he instead disowns him without remorse. Regardless of Henry's father and his hate for the Japanese, Henry and his father, are not very close with one another. For example, Mr. Lee will not even allow Henry to speak his native tongue in their own house, this presents a variety of problems, first being that there is relatively no communication between either of them, because Mr. Lee does not speak English(that well). As another point, Henry and Mr. Lee do not share the same interests, the main one being music. Henry loves upbeat music, the main one being jazz music, while his father likes either traditional classical music, or no music at all.

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Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Character Analysis

1174 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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Examples Of Henry In The Red Badge Of Courage

921 Words | 4 Pages

This is a clear sign that Henry was not prepared to enlist in the war and was. A true hero would have stayed through it all and would have never given up. At the beginning of the story when only wanted to go against what his mother said, he was immature and misunderstanding. Henry’s mother told him, “Henry, don’t be a fool” (Crane 4). Even though his mother attempted change his mind, the next morning he set out to enlist.

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Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Summary

780 Words | 4 Pages

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

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Relationship Between Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet

481 Words | 2 Pages

“His father reached into his shirt pocket and drew out a button. This one read “I'm an American,” in red, white, and blue block lettering. He handed it to Henry, who glared and refused to take it” (148). Henry does not like how his father forces being an American on him, especially when Keiko is being treated the way Japanese Americans are being treated.

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War Without Mercy Chapter 1 Summary

1425 Words | 6 Pages

Part III, The War in Japanese Eyes, allows the reader to receive a Japanese perspective and also grasp how devastating the results of war were. Chapter 8, “The Pure Self,” Dower explains the Japanese traditions and culture, along with the humiliation and discrimination the Japanese received. The Japanese believed their culture was unique, and spent this period of time during the war focusing on themselves and their race. Whereas yellow was the color of illness and treason and the Japanese were usually referred to as yellow, the color white symbolized purity which stood for the American race. On the contrary, the Americans were also known as demonic.

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Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Character Analysis

337 Words | 2 Pages

Keiko Okabe is Henry’s Japanese-American friend. Despite the racism and hate she faces, she is brave and stands up for what she believes in, she saves her family's photo album; she defends Henry when his peers bully him;

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Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Character Analysis

393 Words | 2 Pages

Because the japanese just bombed pearl habor, Henry is required by his father to wear a button that reads "I am Chinese" so others do not mistaken him for a

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American Born Chinese Thesis

880 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luen Yang (2006), it talks about three different people’s stories. The author starts off with telling a story about a monkey called the Monkey King, who lives in the jungle, seeking for higher power to become considered a god in the book. The author also tells a story about an American born Chinese boy named Jin Wang, who moves from San Francisco and struggles with fitting in at a new school. The last story the author tells is about a boy named Danny who has his cousin Chin-Kee from China visit every year. Danny ends up struggling to keep his reputation in adequate shape at school after his cousin visits causing him to switch schools often.

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Internment Camps

855 Words | 4 Pages

Because Henry’s father was a first generation immigrant to the United States from China, he had an extreme sense of national pride. On the other hand, Henry is extremely open to all things American which is a catalyst to the formation of a divide between Henry and his father. This difference between them all starts because in an effort to protect his son from discrimination; Mr. Lee sends Henry to an all white school and refuses to let him speak Cantonese at home, even though Cantonese is the only language Mr. and Mrs. Lee can speak. The separation causes Henry to grow up almost without any parental help. Mr. Lee also despises Henry’s friend, Keiko, who is a Japanese-American girl also going to school with Henry.

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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

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