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
Henry wakes to the sound of the telephone ringing at nine o’clock in the evening. He hears his mother say wei wei (hello, hello) on the phone, and opens his door; Henry is “used to handling all the wrong numbers” since his mother does not speak English. Henry’s mother tells him the phone call is for him, and Henry takes it, to hear Keiko’s voice on the other line. Keiko asks Henry to meet her in Kobe Park in an hour. Henry realizes that “if his mother thought it was odd that the little girl calling her son didn’t speak Chinese, she didn’t say anything. Maybe she thought all parents were forcing their children to speak their American.”
In its focus on Henry’s mother, this passage highlights in a new way the challenges of being a new American. Henry’s mother, who doesn’t speak English, is isolated from other parents who are trying to raise their children as Americans; for all she knows, other families are as cocooned in silence as hers is. This scene also shows how removed Henry is from his mother. He can’t know for sure whether she’s noticed that the girl who’s called isn’t Chinese, and he can’t bring himself to ask.
Themes
After waiting an hour, Henry sneaks out of his bedroom window and goes to Nihonmachi to meet Keiko. In Kobe Park, Keiko explains that her parents made her stay home from school that day because they “were afraid something might happen, that [their] family would be separated.” She also says that the police raided her apartment building, taking away radios, cameras, and even a few of her neighbors. There’s even a curfew, she explains: Japanese people are “not allowed outside of [their] neighborhoods from eight o’clock at night to six in the morning.”
The curfew is an important foreshadowing of the eventual imprisonment that the Okabes and their fellow Japanese Americans will face. As a result of the curfew, families in Nihonmachi have essentially become prisoners in their own homes. Later in the novel, these same families will be removed from their homes and literally imprisoned, despite the fact that they have committed no crime.
Themes
Keiko explains that she “[doesn’t] mean to get [Henry] in trouble, either at school or at home with [his] father.” However, she needs to ask him a favor: will he hide a wagon full of her family’s photo albums for her? Keiko’s mother asked her to burn the photographs, but Keiko found she could not bring herself to do so. Henry agrees, and Keiko gives him a hug before returning home. Henry wheels the wagon full of photos down the deserted streets of Nihonmachi.
This is the first big risk Henry takes for Keiko. The fact that Henry is willing to defy his parents and risk his and their safety in order to protect Keiko’s family belongings shows how deeply Henry cares for his friend. Henry’s decision to hide Keiko’s family photos is also an important plot point, as it will have dramatic repercussions later.
Themes
