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
It is a Saturday—a special day for Henry because it is the only day of the week he can listen to his friend Sheldon Thomas play jazz. Henry arrives to listen to Sheldon, and then chats with him after the performance. Sheldon informs Henry he has joined a union of black musicians, and that he has booked a cancellation gig at the Black Elks Club that night, playing with a famous musician named Oscar Holden. Sheldon asks about Keiko—he’s seen Henry walking home from school with her. Henry insists Keiko is just a friend. He points to the new “I Am Chinese” button his father made him to replace the one Chaz stole. “My parents would kill me if they found out,” he says. Sheldon nevertheless encourages him to use a Japanese phrase the next time he sees Keiko: oai deki te ureshii desu, or how are you today, beautiful?
Though he is a talented saxophone player, Sheldon struggles to find professional opportunities that match his talent because he is black. Even when he is not experiencing overt racism, his career options are limited because of his skin color. Anti-Japanese sentiment (and anti-Asian sentiment more broadly) may be flaring up because the United States is at war with Japan, but Sheldon’s character is a reminder that American society is structurally and historically racist—not just xenophobic. Sheldon’s advice to Henry to use a Japanese phrase when speaking to Keiko is an important plot point, as this phrase will become a kind of emotional shorthand for the two sweethearts.
Themes
Henry wishes Sheldon luck at his Black Elks Club performance, and heads toward Nihonmachi. He realizes he’s only ever walked Keiko to the edge of the Japanese neighborhood, and that it will be difficult to find where she lives. Henry sits on a bench and reads a Japanese newspaper, from which he learns that a Chinatown committee called the Chong Wa Association, to which his father belongs, has called for a boycott of the entire Japanese community of Seattle.
Even though Henry’s father is not present in this scene, Henry’s entry into Nihonmachi nevertheless represents an important evolution in his relationship to his father. On the one hand, Henry’s father has joined other prominent Chinese community leaders in boycotting Japanese businesses, rather than standing in solidarity with Japanese Americans. Henry, on the other hand, feels a genuine connection with Keiko, and this foray into the heart of Nihonmachi represents the first time he has taken an action that formally breaks with the anti-Japanese precedent set by his father.
Themes
As he sits, Henry notices a photo of Keiko holding a parasol on display in the window of the Ochi Photography Studio. Henry approaches the store and asks the photographer if he knows where the Okabes live. The photographer is surprised to hear that both Henry and Keiko attend an all-white school; “you both must be very special students,” he says. The photographer does not know the Okabes’ address but he points Henry in the direction of Kobe Park, suggesting he might find Keiko there.
Henry recoils against the photographer’s use of the word “special,” thinking that it is more of “a burden” than anything to stand out amongst one’s peers. However, Henry does catch himself thinking that Keiko might be special. This is the first inkling Henry has had that he might feel more for Keiko than platonic affection—an important moment given that Henry and Keiko will ultimately fall in love with each other.
Themes
Henry makes his way to Kobe Park; he knows the area well since he and Keiko walk through the park every day on their way home from school. There are street performers near the park and Henry finds himself caught up in the music. Suddenly, he hears Keiko’s voice. Keiko is waving to him from a hill in the park, where she has been sketching. Henry joins her and then nervously repeats the phrase Sheldon taught him. Keiko bursts out laughing and reveals that she doesn’t speak Japanese. Henry says the phrase means “what time is it?” when Keiko asks him to translate.
Henry embarrasses himself with his attempt to flirt with Keiko. This is a noteworthy moment, because Henry will later struggle even more painfully with his conflicting desires to tell Keiko how he feels and to spare them both the pain of acknowledging feelings that they probably cannot act on. Another reason this passage is important is because it highlights the differences between Henry and Keiko’s life experiences as first- and second-generation Americans respectively. Henry is a heritage speaker of Cantonese (meaning he learned the language from his parents, for whom Cantonese is their native language). Keiko speaks only English. While this doesn’t make her any more or less American than Henry, this does mean that Keiko has a different experience of what it means to “belong” as a nonwhite person in America, as will become clear when she is imprisoned with other Japanese Americans in an internment camp later.
Themes
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Henry asks to see Keiko’s sketchbook and she shows him that she was drawing a picture of him. Surprised and delighted, Henry asks how long Keiko was watching him in the crowd amongst the street performers. Keiko jokes, “So sorry, I don’t speak English,” and leaves, telling Henry she’ll see him at school.
Keiko’s lightheartedness shows that she has a sense of humor about her complex identity as a Japanese American. The fact that Keiko was drawing Henry in her treasured sketchbook also suggests that she might reciprocate some of the attraction that Henry has begun to feel toward her.
Themes
