Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Belonging, Bigotry, and Identity
Silence vs. Communication
Family Dynamics and Inheritance
Memory
Love and Self-Sacrifice
Summary
Analysis
Distraught, Henry arrives home and tries to explain what his happening to his parents, handing his father a copy of the proclamation. When his father tries to cut him off, Henry screams: “No! You can’t ignore me. Not anymore.” “Why does this matter?” asks Henry’s father. “We’re at war. And we’re our own community. We take care of each other.” In English, Henry replies, “It matters because she’s Japanese,” and then storms away to his bedroom.
Henry’s father remains firm in his belief that the Japanese American community is not owed solidarity by the Chinese American community. Henry stands up to his father for the first time here, but it is worth noting that the reason Henry offers for challenging his father’s anti-Japanese stance is Keiko. Henry does not argue his position on moral grounds; he is concerned for his particular friend more than he is for the Japanese community as a whole. Henry’s opposition to his father will become more nuanced over the course of the novel.
Themes
Henry’s mother enters his room, asking her son if he needs to talk. Henry asks his mother why his father won’t talk to him. She explains: “This is where he lives, but it will never be his home. Look at what is happening to Japantown. Your father is afraid that might happen to us someday. That’s why—as much as he loves his China—he wants this to be your home.”
Henry’s mother emphasizes that Henry’s father’s anti-Japanese beliefs are rooted in fear, just as the anti-Japanese beliefs of Henry’s classmates are. Her words also reveal that Henry’s father does want his son to experience a sense of belonging—even if his ways of communicating this desire are deeply flawed.
Themes
Henry’s mother says she knows Henry has “a friend”—“the girl from the Rainier school”—and asks if the girl is Japanese. Henry tells his mother in Cantonese, “She’s my best friend,” and his mother lets out a heavy sigh.
Henry’s admission to his mother shows that she has cultivated a more trusting relationship with her son than her husband has. Still, though she loves her son, Henry’s mother cannot bring herself to approve of her son’s Japanese friends.
Themes
The weekend elapses, and Henry’s father refuses to speak about what is happening in Nihonmachi. Though Henry’s mother defended Henry’s “friend” to his father—“a rare occurrence,” Henry knows—she also finds “little value in Henry discussing it further.” Henry tries calling Keiko’s house over the weekend but can’t get in touch with her. So, on Tuesday, he cuts school and goes to Union Station, where all the residents of Nihonmachi are gathering. Every Japanese person he sees is wearing “a plain white tag, the kind you’d see on a piece of furniture.”
Henry’s mother enacts a small rebellion in defending Henry’s friendship with Keiko to Henry’s father. Given how domineering Henry’s father is, this act is more significant than it might seem on the surface. Still, Henry’s mother does not make the added effort of allowing Henry to process his feelings by continuing to discuss them with her. At the train station, seeing Japanese American families wearing tags as if they were pieces of furniture drives home to Henry how dehumanizing the government’s new policy is.
Themes
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Henry begins to panic, unsure if he’ll be able to find Keiko. He notices a few other Chinese people in the crowd, all of whom wear “I Am Chinese” buttons that match his own. Henry touches his button and thinks, “This is what gold feels like.”
Henry’s realization that his button is like a piece of gold, while the white tags worn by those around him are like scarlet letters, emphasizes how randomly hatred fuels the destruction of entire communities, while leaving others unscathed.
Themes
Standing atop a mailbox, Henry spots the Okabes in the crowd and waves frantically. The Okabes don’t see him, but Chaz Preston does. Chaz is “[standing] behind the barricade laughing, waving at Henry, smiling before going back to screaming at the children and crying mothers walking by.” Spotting the old button Chaz stole from him, and that he still wears, Henry jumps off the mailbox and heads towards Chaz, feeling “his spine […] fused with anger.”
Chaz’s cruelty is dramatically highlighted in this passage, as he torments children and mothers who are already experiencing the highest degree of distress as they prepare to be deported from their own homes. Henry finds that he is finally able to confront Chaz. He has put up with Chaz bullying him—but seeing Chaz taunt innocent Japanese families compels Henry to stand up once and for all.
Themes
Henry confronts Chaz and asks what he’s doing there. Chaz says, “Just thought I’d come down here and say sayonara. You were just a bonus find.” Chaz grabs Henry’s collar, and Henry punches him as hard as he can. Chaz throws Henry to the ground and begins beating him. Henry reaches up toward Chaz and feels “a piercing in his hand […] the only pain that matter[s].” Suddenly, Sheldon Thomas appears and drags Chaz off of Henry. Spitting threats and racial slurs, Chaz slinks away.
This is an important moment for Henry’s development. In fighting Chaz—and reclaiming the button Chaz stole from him—Henry asserts a symbolic claim to his Chinese identity in a way he has not done up until this point in the novel. Sheldon’s appearance at a critical moment also enforces the notion that he is a kind of protector figure for Henry.
Themes
Sheldon asks Henry if he’s okay. Henry is badly beaten, but he looks down triumphantly at his hand, into which his “I Am Chinese” button his stuck partway. He says to Sheldon “in his best English”: “Never felt better.”
Again, Henry seems to stake a claim to his Chinese identity by reclaiming his button. At the same time, Henry asserts his Americanness by using “his best English.” This is a critical moment for Henry; in the midst of turmoil, he has found a way to claim both parts of his fractured identity.
Themes
Henry again whirls through the crowd, looking for Keiko. He tries to formulate a plan that will convince his parents to shelter the Okabes in their home—he’s heard of other “Chinese families who took people in, hiding them—there had to be a chance.” Finally, Henry again thinks he spots Mr. Okabe. He runs toward him, only to find that the man he thought was Keiko’s father is a “defeated old gentleman […] [with] a wide mustache.” Henry is crushed, thinking the Okabes are already gone.
Henry is so devoted to Keiko that he momentarily considers it possible that he would be able to hide her—along with her family—in his parents’ home. This shows how desperate Henry is to protect the girl he has come to love. Still, the fact that Henry knows of Chinese families who have done the very thing his parents would find unthinkable—shelter Japanese Americans against the government’s orders—suggests that there are others in Henry’s community who share in the horror he feels at what is being done to his neighbors.
Themes
Just then, Henry hears Keiko’s voice. Henry gives Keiko the button he’s recovered from Chaz. “Wear this,” he says, “and they’ll let you walk out of here.” Henry insists that the Okabes take the button he wears, as well. “I’ll go back and get more for all of you,” he says. Mr. Okabe thanks Henry for his kindness and bravery, but says: “No matter what happens to us, Henry, we’re still Americans. And we need to be together—wherever they take us.”
Mr. Okabe’s words are incredibly resonant. Though the government has just ordered Mr. Okabe and his family—all of whom were born in America and have never lived anywhere else—removed from their homes and imprisoned, Mr. Okabe refuses to relinquish what he knows to be true: he is an American. This moment is important because Mr. Okabe models a sense of confidence Henry does not yet share. He is sure of his identity and does not feel ashamed in claiming it—even when society tries to tell him he has not “earned” it.
Themes
Keiko takes Henry’s hand, and asks to keep the button he gave her anyway, pinning it inside her diary. She tells Henry that she and her family have heard they are being taken to a temporary relocation center called Camp Harmony, two hours south of Seattle. “I’ll be here,” Henry says. Henry weeps as the Okabes board the train. As he stands amongst the hundreds of other Japanese families waiting for the next train, Henry wonders what he will say to his parents.
After saying goodbye to Keiko, Henry is still surrounded by hundreds of other families, emphasizing the scale on which Japanese American internment took place. The fact that Henry worries about how he will convey his anguish to his parents shows just how damaging the silence in the Lee household is. Henry has not only undergone a traumatic goodbye, but he has also been rendered powerless by his own father to speak of what he has just endured.
Themes
