The Relationship In Henry From Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet By Jamie Ford

There are good and bad relationships, and both work to form lives. Relationships are a major piece of people's lives, they help them develop. However, there are always changes that lead to shaping someone's life. Henry from Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, has numerous relationships. When he was growing up, he had a close relationship with his friend Keiko. Along with that, he had an essential, yet poor, relationship with his father. In the future, you learn about the family he made and the relationship he has with his son, Marty. The relationship Henry had with his father changed the way Henry wanted his life to play out. Henry and his father were not that close. Adding on to that, when his father discovered Henry had a friend that is Japanese, he flipped. Henry’s father was a strong Chinese traditionalist and with World War II occuring, he disapproved of anything that would be considered the ‘enemy’. When he discovered that Henry was hanging out with Keiko, his father became progressively upset with him, ultimately disowning him. This moved their relationship

Their relationship begins similarly to Henry and his father. Throughout the book though, you see them becoming closer and bonding with each other. Ethel, Henry’s wife, was battling cancer, and Henry and Marty both had opposing ideas about where she should be. Their separate opinions cause their relationship to diminish. After Ethel perishes and Marty introduces Henry to his fiancee, their relationship starts to strengthen. While the three of them hang out, Henry insists “‘Meet me at the tearoom of the Panama Hotel’” (85). They visit the basement of the hotel after meeting up and search through a bunch of archaic items. Whilst doing this, Marty grows curious about his father’s past life. Henry tells a few stories about different times. This allows for Marty’s inquisitiveness to grow, and the relationship between father and son to