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
Amongst a crowd of curious onlookers—including a television crew—Henry Lee stands before the Panama Hotel in downtown Seattle. The hotel once served as “a gateway between Seattle’s Chinatown and Nihonmachi, Japantown,” and the only time Henry has visited it, before today, was when he was 12 years old. Now, at age 56, Henry is a widower (his wife, Ethel, died of cancer six months earlier) and father to “an ungrateful son” named Marty. Standing before the hotel, Henry reflects on the fact that he took an early retirement from his job to care for Ethel in her illness, and that he now finds himself with no one to spend his time with, “a man between lifetimes.”
The novel’s opening scene introduces protagonist Henry Lee as a man struggling with his identity, even in middle age. The feeling of being caught between two different lifetimes—even two different versions of one’s self—and of struggling to find a sense of belonging is a central experience for Henry throughout the novel, especially in his childhood. These opening moments also hint at the key role that love will play in the novel, thanks to the mention of Henry’s late wife, Ethel. Finally, it is worth noting that the novel opens on the image of the Panama Hotel, which will function as a symbol of the persistent force of memory in the novel.
Themes
Henry approaches the steps of the hotel, which has been boarded up since 1950, and listens as the hotel’s new owner, Palmyra Pettison, announces that the belongings of 37 Japanese American families deported from Seattle to internment camps during World War II have been found in the basement of the hotel. Henry watches as workers bring some items (including a bamboo parasol painted with koi) out of the hotel and finds himself wondering “if his own broken heart might be found in there, hidden among the unclaimed possessions of another time.”
The notion of memories being “buried,” like the parasol and other items Henry watches being excavated from the hotel basement, is of crucial importance. As the story unfolds, Henry will allow himself to let go of his conviction that painful memories are better off buried—left unspoken and unacknowledged. Allowing himself to finally face his broken heart over the course of the novel will enable Henry not only to improve his relationship with his son, but also to rediscover true love.
Themes
