Hotel on the corner of Bitter and sweet, reflections

Relationship

His head turned to the left as her did the same, and a simple kiss found a home between their lips. When he opened his eyes, hers was beaming back at him. He hugged her one more time, then let her go- walking backward, waving, trying not to smile too broadly, but he couldn't help it. I love her.

This is a very touching part of the book. Henry has gone all the way from his home in Chinatown, to Camp Harmony in the inlands to help the school chef with the food. There, he finds Keiko and the

y decide to meet by the fence. Henry is standing on the “Visitors” side, while Keiko is on the Japanese side. This moment reflects the differences between the two of them, which are so marginally small that they almost are unnoticeable. Nevertheless, these differences are the reason they are separated in the first place. This is a turning point for Henry. Previously, he had seen Keiko as a friend. Now, he realizes that he is in love with he

r. Later, he looks at her in a different way, which we can read out of the following quote from the book:

Henry had thought about Keiko off and on through the years- from a longing, to quiet, somber acceptance, to sincerely wishing her the best, that she might be happy. That was when he realized that he did love her. More than what he'd felt all those years ago. He loved her enough to let her go- to not go dredging up the past.

The record is a very important factor in their relationship. They went to a club and listened to Henry’s friend Sheldon and Oscar Holden. This was their first “date”, even though they went as friends. The record is for Henry a reminder of what he and Keiko have. Later, when Henry’s father condemns their relationship, Henry tells us about how important that one record is:

At least we have the record, Henry thought. A reminder of a place where people didn't seem to care what you looked like, where you were born, or where your family was born. When the music played, it didn't seem to make one lick of difference if your last name was Abernathy or Anjou, Kung or Kobayashi. After all, they had the music to prove it.

Theme

Keiko halted and looked at Henry. (…) "You are Chinese, aren't you, Henry?" he nodded, not knowing how to answer. "that's fine. Be who you are", she said, turning away, a look of disappointment in her eyes. "But I'm an American."

This statement also states how Keiko looks at herself. Later in the book, she says: "I don't feel very giving, or grateful. Just angry," Keiko said. "I was born here. I don't even speak Japanese. Still, all these people, everywhere I go… they hate me."

This proves once again that Keiko does see herself as an American citizen, and not as Japanese. However, her own patriotism towards America could not save her from the same destiny as the other Japanese people at the time. She and her family were deported to the Camps together with many other Japanese people. Henry tells his son Marty about it later. He describes the incident this way: "during the war, the Japanese community was evacuated, for their own safety, supposedly. They were given only a few days' notice and were forced inland to internment camps. (…). They could take only two suitcases each and one small seabag (…) so they stored their valuable belongings in places like this hotel (…) What was left in their homes was long gone by the time they returned. (…)"

Again, this shows the reader the huge gap between the two destinies, and how far apart they are at this point. I recomend this book for the interesting themes and conflicts, although it was a little hard to get into in the beginning.

The picture can be found here: http://reading-randi.blogspot.com/2011/02/tanker-om-bok-jamie-ford-hotel-on.html