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 says goodbye to Marty, and then heads to the cemetery where Ethel is buried. He lays starfire lilies, which he and Ethel used to grow in their garden, on Ethel’s grave. He also takes a penny out of his pocket. Per Chinese tradition, when Ethel was buried, the funeral guests received envelopes containing a peppermint and a penny. The mint allowed guests to taste sweetness, not bitterness, and the penny allowed them to buy more candy as a “token of lasting life and enduring happiness.” Henry ate the mint at Ethel’s funeral, but he has saved the quarter. Now he places the penny on Ethel’s grave and asks for her blessing for “some things [he] need[s] to do.”
Henry’s gift of the symbolic starfire lilies shows that he genuinely loved Ethel, even though she was not (as the reader will learn) his true love. Lilies thematically connect Ethel and Henry’s mother, two women for woman Henry felt genuine, if imperfect, affection. This scene is also noteworthy because of Henry’s request that Ethel give her blessing from beyond the grave. This highlights how fraught Henry’s decision to reengage with his memories of Keiko truly is. Henry does not want to betray his love for Ethel, and his request shows that he is committing to doing right by both of the women he has loved.
Themes
Henry removes a lily from Ethel’s bouquet and places it on the nearby grave of his mother. He also brushes off his father’s grave before exiting the cemetery. As he leaves, he passes the Nisei War Memorial Monument, “dedicated to Japanese American veterans—locals who’d died fighting the Germans.” Henry tips his hat toward the memorial as he walks by.
Henry pays tribute to this small, often neglected monument. The fact that he does so implicitly emphasizes how readily society at large has forgotten about the suffering and sacrifices of Japanese Americans during World War II—even those families who lived right in Seattle itself.
Themes
