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
Marty and Samantha sit in the backyard while Henry prunes his ume tree. Samantha asks about the tree, and Henry explains that it was his father’s favorite, and that it is a revolutionist symbol. Samantha says, “Marty said that tree came from a branch of your father’s tree—that you planted it here when he died.” Samantha continues chatting about things Marty has told her, and Henry finds himself wondering why his son shares things with Samantha but not with him. He also starts to daydream about how much easier it would be to sort through belongings at the Panama Hotel if he had help.
Even more than the preceding scene, this is a seminal moment in Henry’s evolving relationship with Marty. Through Samantha, Henry begins to understand how his son sees him—and that this is not the way he necessarily wants to be seen. Henry begins to open himself emotionally, especially when he considers asking Marty and Samantha for help at the Panama Hotel. This is the first moment of realization for Henry that opening up about his past and sharing his memories can have a positive effect: it will help him to feel closer to his son.
Themes
Henry reveals that though the ume tree was, indeed, his father’s favorite, the sapling that Henry planted actually came from Kobe Park in Nihonmachi—Henry made a cutting on the night Marty was born, “a Chinese tree in a Japanese garden.” Without explaining, Henry then asks Marty and Samantha to meet him next Thursday in the tearoom of the Panama Hotel.
This is a baby step for Henry; he hasn’t revealed anything huge about his past, but he has moved toward rebuilding the image Marty has of both Henry and Henry’s father. The fact that Henry transplanted a tree from Kobe Park into his own home, where he lived with Ethel and Marty, suggests that Henry has never let his memory of or love for Keiko fade.
Themes
