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The Relationship In Henry From Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet By Jamie Ford

778 Words4 Pages

There are good and bad relationships, and both work to form lives. Relationships are a major piece of people's lives, they help them develop. However, there are always changes that lead to shaping someone's life. Henry from Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, has numerous relationships. When he was growing up, he had a close relationship with his friend Keiko. Along with that, he had an essential, yet poor, relationship with his father. In the future, you learn about the family he made and the relationship he has with his son, Marty. The relationship Henry had with his father changed the way Henry wanted his life to play out. Henry and his father were not that close. Adding on to that, when his father discovered Henry had a friend that is Japanese, he flipped. Henry’s father was a strong Chinese traditionalist and with World War II occuring, he disapproved of anything that would be considered the ‘enemy’. When he discovered that Henry was hanging out with Keiko, his father became progressively upset with him, ultimately disowning him. This moved their relationship …show more content…

Their relationship begins similarly to Henry and his father. Throughout the book though, you see them becoming closer and bonding with each other. Ethel, Henry’s wife, was battling cancer, and Henry and Marty both had opposing ideas about where she should be. Their separate opinions cause their relationship to diminish. After Ethel perishes and Marty introduces Henry to his fiancee, their relationship starts to strengthen. While the three of them hang out, Henry insists “‘Meet me at the tearoom of the Panama Hotel’” (85). They visit the basement of the hotel after meeting up and search through a bunch of archaic items. Whilst doing this, Marty grows curious about his father’s past life. Henry tells a few stories about different times. This allows for Marty’s inquisitiveness to grow, and the relationship between father and son to

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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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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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At the beginning of the story, Henry is a naive young soldier who finds his worth in how others treat him. As he entered the army he “...basked in the smiles of the girls and was patted and complimented by old men, [and] he had felt growing within him the strength to do mighty deeds of arms” (6). Henry’s definition of bravery is strictly based on the praise he gets from others for his own actions. He has no sense of true courage or integrity that comes from within. After his first few battles,one in which he was forced to fight and the other in which he ran, Henry battles with his own internal demons.

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Maybe his son felt the same. ‘He’ll deal with it in his way, and in his own time,’ Ethel had said, shortly after she learned she had cancer. ‘He’s your son, but he’s not a product of your childhood, it doesn’t have to be the same.’(39) Ethel reassures Henry that he is not the same person as his father and that he can change for the better. After some time Henry and Marty begin to rekindle their relationship.

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The whole army squad that Henry was fighting with were all rookies they had never seen a dead man or ever killed anyone, none of them had experience. Him seeing his first dead man was kind of a little wake up call, so he could be prepared and that maybe could be him in the future. I believe it also showed him he's going to have to fight back because people are coming for him , not just one , many. This “meeting” with the man laying the ground without movement affect henry in a positive way because it warned him and made him ready for anything. As he says in chapter 3 “His curiosity was quite easily satisfied.

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When Henry is growing up this shows that Henry is much more willing to accept the reality. Then be bullied on the sidelines with others that judge him. When Henry is more comfortable with him being himself he has learned that being who you are will mean so much more than people judging him because of his

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Henry Lee, the protagonist, has many relationships, specifically with his father, Marty, and Keiko, that are

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But Ethel explains how that is not how a relationship is supposed to be. Henry knows, “. . .deep down, Henry soon realizes that's not how he wants his relationship and starts talking to his son more often. They start to have a close relationship wanting to tell each other everything” (61). Henry and his son Marty have a close bond at the novel’s end, and he meets his Daughter-in-law Samantha, who makes a traditional Chinese dinner.

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Henrys traumatic experience makes him incapable of further developing. Henry drives his brother out to “Red River” (Erdrich 44) and Lyman begins to believe his brother is back to normal. Henry jumps into the water very casually as if to cool off but his decision to end his is already thought out. He allows his boots to fill up with water which symbolizes purification and

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This creates a void between them that leads Henry to walking out and being disowned by his family,

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Before Henry deployed, he and Lyman were very close, as is shown by their many trips in the red convertible. A memorable trip was when they picked up the hitch hiker Susy headed to Alaska. “Then my brother henry did something funny”(Erdich 94), this shows the pre war henry that had a social side that people enjoyed when around him. But when Henry returned, he and Lyman spent a less time together.

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Henry and Victor needed each other to get through school and life. Everyone needs at least one friend, who will bring his or her balance and love, into their life. To go further in depth, the characters in Frankenstein expressed the need of a companion to feel the need and want in life. The character to introduce the want for a friend is Robert Walton.

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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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