Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Character Analysis

Matthew Quick's unique novel, Boy21, takes readers through the eyes of a young, troubled boy who avoids his past. In a city where drug dealers hang out by the city hall, and old men drink out of brown paper bags, a boy named Finley barely manages to get past his senior year of high school. He keeps himself isolated from the rest of the world, scared to face his past, because it can get him into trouble. However, this changed when he is asked to befriend Russ Washington. The novel reveals that moving on is dependent upon accepting choices that have been made.

The whole army squad that Henry was fighting with were all rookies they had never seen a dead man or ever killed anyone, none of them had experience. Him seeing his first dead man was kind of a little wake up call, so he could be prepared and that maybe could be him in the future. I believe it also showed him he's going to have to fight back because people are coming for him , not just one , many. This “meeting” with the man laying the ground without movement affect henry in a positive way because it warned him and made him ready for anything. As he says in chapter 3 “His curiosity was quite easily satisfied.

Henry carried his experiences to his marriage with Ethel and eventually with his son, Marty. Throughout this coming-of-age novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Ford illustrates the life of Henry Lee and his growth throughout his lifetime. Henry’s relationships during his life greatly contributed to his character today. Henry learned from his father’s actions, a personality that he did not want to portray as a person.

He thought he was going to pass out. This is one of the reasons that Henry could have ran away from the second battle, because he was close to death. Henry wasn’t doing well for his first time; he went a little over board and got himself into trouble again. “The youth awakened slowly. He came gradually back to a position from which he could regard himself.

Henry’s father has extreme feelings towards certain subjects or groups of people. Specifically, Henry’s father is against the Japanese because of the war that is currently going on, but little does he know, his son’s only friend is of Japanese descent. When Henry’s parents discovered all of Keiko’s belongings that he was hiding, that was the lowest and possibly breaking point of their relationship. Following that incident, “Henry thought about his parents. They hadn’t spoken a word to him in nearly a week.

Ford shares the differences in parenting styles between how Henry parents his son and the way that Henry was parented by his father. The novel juxtaposed the parenting skills of both Henry and his father in the sense of how much they allowed the child to marry. Henry was told that he had to marry a Chinese girl and Henry does not mind whether or not Marty marries one or not. This is why when Marty brought home Samantha he was not sure how his father would act. When Henry was very accepting and was glad that Marty was happy it took Marty a moment to understand.

He realizes that not all death row prisoners are vicious and evil and starts to think in a new light. The reader feels empathy for Henry and can also imagine themselves in Stevenson's shoes. Many people build these stereotypes without realizing and these preconceived notions are almost always incorrect or off in some aspect. Henry is a person who did a terrible thing but he is just as human as anyone else. Just as human as Stevenson and just as human as the reader.

Later on, after Henry sneaks into Camp Harmony to see Keiko for a final time and his father finds out of his friendship with Keiko, his father says “Saang jan” meaning “You are a stranger to me” after his father has a stroke (207). Henry hearing this, realizes that his already shaky relationship with his father would never be the same again; especially since he would never let go of his friendship with Keiko, even for his parents. Because of his father’s isolation from him, Henry grows up to not knowing how to react to his son like his father leading to Marty being nervous to tell Henry about Samantha. Although Keiko promises to write back to Henry, Henry went to the post office only to hear the clerk, later identified as Ethel say, “I’m sorry, Henry. No

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

This relationship starts out very strained, but grows to be very healthy. When we first meet Marty, Ethel has just died, which was a difficult part of Henry’s life. Also, Marty believes that Henry wishes to be treated the same way Henry treats his father. As time goes on however, Marty spends more time with his father and begins to realize that his father is not his grandfather. The interaction between these two helps not only Henry but also Marty accept Ethel’s death.

Apparently, Henry was not ready to leave either because he, too, wanted her to tell the story. She was surprised that Jackson even remembered the story she had told them about the Indian Princess, Noccalula, for whom the falls had been named; he was very young when she told it to them. When she said that she was not in a storytelling mood, she could see the disappointment on both their faces; she felt bad about it, but not bad enough to stay and tell the story. Ever since, Aaron‘s death, Henry had been moody and brooding-

This creates a void between them that leads Henry to walking out and being disowned by his family,

But, in Henry’s family, they start to turn on Henry when his father finds out that he is still friends with the Japanese girl that he had previously said Henry could not see anymore. This has a major effect on the family, “His father pointed at the door, ‘If you walk out that door—if you walk out that door now, you are no longer part of this family. You are no longer Chinese. You are not part of us anymore. Nor a part of me.’

Henry and Victor needed each other to get through school and life. Everyone needs at least one friend, who will bring his or her balance and love, into their life. To go further in depth, the characters in Frankenstein expressed the need of a companion to feel the need and want in life. The character to introduce the want for a friend is Robert Walton.

This proves that he was not ready and only wanted to prove his mother wrong. As one can see, there are many reasons that Henry is considered a