Jamie Ford wrote a book called Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet at 2009. This book is the story talked about of Henry, Chinese-American teenage boy who had friendships with Keiko, Japanese-American girl, Sheldon, a sax player on South King, and Oscar Holden, jazz pianist during World War II. During the wartime Japanese army hit the Pearl Harbor, so the US government evacuated all the Japanese-American citizen and sent them to internment camps. Most of the Japanese lost their business, frozen their an account's and confiscated by the banks, and resold their business for cheap prices. During that, Henry experiences conflict in his relationships with Keiko, his parents, and Ethel because his character is loyalty. Henry felt conflicted about …show more content…
Henry experiences conflict in his relationships with Keiko, his parents, and Ethel because his character is loyalty. His loyalty to Keiko was by looking for their Oscar's record called Alley Cats, Oscar played it for them. Keiko kept the record with her family's stuff in the basement of the Panama Hotel with other Japanese families' things. After looking for this record, he found it broken into two pieces, but he said, "I have the record. That's enough."p.178."Now I have it, I'd rather have found something broken than have it lost to me forever."p143. Henry is an embodiment of loyalty from the beginning of his life, like when his father, a traditional Chinese, told him to wear pinned a button on his school shirt that read “I am Chinese,” he obeyed. Also, when he promised his parents to go to China to finish his school as his father's dream, but in one condition. Henry said, "I know the Panama Hotel is for sale. I know who wants to buy it. And since you're an elder member of the downtown associations, I know you have some say in the matter, I want that Hotel left as is unsold."p.251. Henry is very kind and loyal husband, he loved his wife. He was beside his wife during her sickness until she passed away. For example, he promised "to care for his wife in sickness and in health."p.8. Also, he followed the tradition Chinese way symbols of the life after death as a …show more content…
First, he promised Keiko to keep her family's photo memories in a safe place. He said, "I can hide them in my room. Do you have more?"p.95. After that, his parents discovered these photos and his father was very angry about these Japanese' pictures in his apartment also was danger keep them. There was a big dispute between them, and his father threw the album of pictures an outside. Henry's father said, "if you walk out that the door now, you are no longer part of this family. You are no longer Chinese. You are not part of us anymore."p.185, Henry walked to door and said, "I am going to keep my promise."p.184, "I am what you made me, father. I am an American."p.185. Third, His loyalty caused internal conflict as a Chinese and for Keiko as a Japanese, who loved and promised her, he will wait for her until she comes back from the camp. Henry and Keiko agreed to stay in touch by sending mail to each other, but there was a gap in the period between their letters, "she hadn't written in six months."p.252. Henry told Sheldon about no letter from Keiko, "I thought we'd write more. I just didn't think she'd forget about me so quickly."p.243. So, he thought she had forgotten about him and busy with her new life. Henry let Keiko go, and hoped the best for her life. Then, his father told him before died, he prevented the mails between them by using his position; he said, "I did it for
Henry was an extremely lonely nine-year-old boy whose greatest wish was to get a dog. His parents were busy with their work most of the time and it seemed that Henry did not have any friends, perhaps because they moved so often. A dog would have provided Henry with unconditional love - something in short supply around his house - and would have been the perfect companion. The problem was, his parents did not want dog, which would have been another obligation and something else to take care of. As emotionally detached as his parents were, something else to take care of was just not desirable.
During the war, Henry was taken P.O.W. and spent time in a Vietnamese prison. When he returned home, Lyman said, "Henry was very different...the change was no good," (463). Henry was constantly paranoid and evidently mentally unstable as a result of his wartime trauma. When the family had exhausted all efforts to help Henry, Lyman thought of the car. Though Henry had not even looked at the car since his return, Lyman said, "I thought the car might bring back the old Henry somehow. So I bided my time and waited for my chance to interest him in the vehicle." (464)
days working in an art store. He built a replica of his village. Henry is given a choice by his boss,
In the end, Henry does give up on Keiko too easily. Henry has a chance before and after 40 years, but his final decisions are still the same, letting Keiko go. Henry could have prevented the separation from happening and breaks Ethels heart, but as a soft-hearted person, Henry does just the opposite. He moves on with his life with Ethel and forgets about Keiko. Henry thought that his decisions are what is best and what is right for the both Henry and Keiko. Although reunited at the end of the book, does not suggest that Henry does not give up on Keiko too easily, because the book always have a sweetness along with bitterness.
On one end he was ignored by his parents and even disowned, and on the other he was being constantly bullied and put down by his peers who were in their words “fighting the yellow menace”. But one day at school, he encounters a nice, Japanese girl named Keiko Okabe. Keiko and Henry seemed to click almost immediately. This is most likely because they had so much in common. They were both ridiculed horribly in public and by their own peers at school, they both had similar interests, and most importantly they both put aside their ethic pasts and acknowledged that they were indeed American. “That’s where I was born too. I’m Japanese, but American first” (Ford 24). Unlike Henry’s family who refuses to put off their Chinese heritage, Keiko and her family have fully embraced the fact that they are full Americans now and take part fully in American culture. This is shown through the Okabe’s love of jazz or the “colored” music as Henry’s father disdainfully calls. Also, Keiko doesn't even speak Japanese. She only learned English because that what Americans speak and she is American. Henry’s relationship with keiko also brought him out of his shell and showed a new side to his character. Whereas with his father and Marty Henry is quiet and in the background, with Keiko, Henry is much more confident and much more outgoing. He is even willing to smuggle illegal alcohol into a colored jazz club and spend a
It appears that the war in Vietnam has still gotten into Henry. The war may be over in reality but in his mind it is still going on. This can explain all the agitations and discomfort he has such as not being able to sit still. Based on research, what Henry was experiencing was shellshock from the battlefield from the many soldiers being killed to t...
“We shall either find what we are seeking, or free ourselves from the persuasion that we know what we do not know.” ― Mary Renault. In many dystopian texts and films, there would always be a person who rebels and looks for change, like Jonas in the Giver,. In Pleasantville and Fahrenheit 451, the main characters are living in a dystopia and they rebel in diverse ways for a change.
After one game, Henry decides to “halfway across the lake” without a life vest, effectively attempting to commit suicide (345). Henry is so depressed of his failures that he is willing to contemplate and attempt suicide. He “want[ed] everything to be perfect” and that was what could have killed him (346). Eventually however he has a change of heart and returned to the shore, “peeled off his wet clothes” as if he was peeling off a piece of himself, a layer, before going to sleep (347). This “idea of perfection, a perfectly simple life in which every move had meaning and baseball was just the medium through which he could make that happen” has officially taken over Henry as seen in these episodes of attempted suicide and metaphorical peeling a piece of himself off. Later, Henry quits baseball due to these specific moments of failure, he allows himself to enter a compromising situation whereby he essentially gives up on
Henry Lee- Henry is first introduced as an older man, but the book jumps back in forth between his childhood memories and his adult life. In the past Henry is a Chinese American boy growing up in Seattle during World War II. He is lonely in the world and is bullied at school but then he meets Keiko. He is only friends with her at first, but that friendship soon grows into best friendship, and then that grows into even more. Henry is characterized as a determined, loyal friend. When Keiko and her family are sent away to an internment camp, Henry lands a job at the camp so he can visit Keiko whenever possible. He brings her the supplies she needs and even tries to get her presents on her birthdays. At much personal risk, he also keeps some
The question that continuously puzzled me as I read through the poems was, "Who is Henry?". He is the main character in John Berryman's The Dream Songs, yet he is very mysterious. He is likely to show up in almost every poem in the book. Analyzing this character is confusing because he is mentioned so many times and in so many different contexts that it is hard to decipher exactly who he is, however it is possible that even the author is not exactly sure who he is.
...a of what his life would have been had he been born and raised by an American Family. This shows that he has been trying to run away from the shadow of his own Culture in an effort to gain acceptance in the American Culture. However, his unruly behavior might have resulted due to the lack of support from his family especially his father. His father’s determination of trying to keep him bounded to the Korean tradition and values might have what actually pushed Henry away. For example, when Henry decides to take an American girl to the Spring Dance, his father justifies her interest in her son due his financial background. He says to Henry, “You real dummy, Henry. Don’t you know? You just free dance ticket. She just using you” (Pg. 74). This illustrates that Henry has been struggling to gain his father’s respect and approval in him but was never able to achieve that.
After Henry falls in love with Lucy, he and people who have knowledge of Lucy’s condition start to leave video tapes telling her about the time she spent with them during a single day. This was done in hopes that she could remember her feelings for him. Henry then leaves Hawaii after saving money he would use to be with Lucy but
Henry suffers from retrograde amnesia due to internal bleeding in the part of the brain that controls memory. This causes him to forget completely everything he ever learned. His entire life is forgotten and he has to basically relearn who he was, only to find he didn’t like who he was and that he didn’t want to be that person. He starts to pay more attention to his daughter and his wife and starts to spend more time with them.
Henry’s character is introduced in the movie when his cousin Mark, who is just about the same age as him, suddenly comes to stay with their family because his father had to go away on business. Mark’s mother recently passed away right in front of his eyes and he was still dealing with the repercussions of it all. Dealing with feelings of loneliness, Mark immediately developed a close bond with Henry. He found Henry to be adventurous and nice but was not aware of who Henry really was and what he was experiencing. At first, Henry seemed like a decent young boy who enjoyed experimenting with new things. On ...
The state of affairs and the grim reality of the war lead Henry towards an ardent desire for a peaceful life, and as a result Henry repudiates his fellow soldiers at the warfront. Henry’s desertion of the war is also related to his passionate love for Catherine. Henry’s love for Catherine is progressive and ironic. This love develops gradually in “stages”: Henry’s attempt at pretending love for Catherine towards the beginning of the novel, his gradually developing love for her, and finally, Henry’s impas... ...