Belonging, Bigotry, and Identity
Through the lens of best friends Henry and Keiko’s experiences growing up in Seattle during the Second World War, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet examines how rigid ideas about identity can cause harm, particularly to children from immigrant families. Both Henry (who is a first-generation Chinese American) and Keiko (who is a second-generation Japanese American) are plagued by the perception that they’re neither truly American nor truly members of their families’…
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Silence vs. Communication
Throughout the novel, protagonist Henry struggles to communicate with his strict, judgmental father; his first love, Keiko; and eventually his own son, Marty. The ongoing separation and silence between Henry and these characters creates pain, misunderstanding, and alienation. The novel argues that silence is a corrosive force in relationships, and one whose damaging force is compounded over time. Even when personal and public tragedies make it difficult to find the right words…
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Family Dynamics and Inheritance
In an interview about the novel, author Jamie Ford stated: “As the saying goes, everyone has two chances at a parent/child relationship, once as a child and once as a parent.” Ford examines that dynamic by contrasting the relationship the protagonist, Henry, has to his father with the relationship between Henry and his son, Marty. These dual stories of fathers and sons show that toxic family dynamics are not doomed to be repeated…
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Memory
In Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Japanese America Keiko Okabe and her family are sent to a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Keiko’s family’s imprisonment, along with thousands of other families, in Japanese American internment camps serves as the focal point for the novel’s argument about memory. In portraying their experiences in the camp and the events that follow, Ford explores the different roles that memory can play in…
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Love and Self-Sacrifice
In Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Asian Americans Henry and Keiko meet each other at a young age and maintain a lifelong bond despite being separated. They manage to keep their love and hope for the future alive despite Keiko being sent to a Japanese internment camp and both characters facing hatred and discrimination in nearly all facets of their lives apart from each other. Henry and Keiko’s story shows that…
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