Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet Essay Topics

One’s past can often influence their future be it positive or negative. In Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet a novel by Jamie Ford, the characters who face struggles in their past go on to overcome them in the future. The successful and happy life Sheldon lived after his first big gig at the Black Elks Club preforming with Oscar Holden. Sheldon who starts out as a simple street performer goes on to become a band owner and a family man. Keiko is able to move on from her time in the internment camps and ready to start a new life. After she loses everything and then is released with little, Keiko soon is married and is ready to start a family of her own. An adult Henry’s love for his son and wife after he returns home from finishing his

schooling in china. Henry is able to overcome his own family troubles and reluctantly going to china as a child to start the life he wants with Ethel. Sheldon, Keiko, and Henry are able to overcome the struggles they faced in their past.
First through Sheldon’s success it is shown how he is able to overcome his past.

After performing with Oscar Holden for a year Sheldon goes on to “form his own band” (Ford 225). Given the opportunity to play a real gig with Oscar, Sheldon was able to forge a career with his own band after having lived and played on the streets for years. Sheldon goes back to playing on the streets after the Black Elks closes but this time he draws a bigger and “paying crowd” (182). Before playing the gig Sheldon was lucky to make a little money, but now revealing his talent he is able to be acknowledged making him more money than he had ever made before. Henry comes to visit Sheldon in the nursing home and he observes the “photos of Sheldon and his family” (224) that hang on the walls. His success at the Black Elks lead Sheldon from being a homeless man living and playing on the streets to a man with his own family and a successful career. Sheldon’s life and success after he played his first gig at the Blacks Elks club provides an example of a character who overcomes their

past.
Additionally, the reader can see characters overcoming their past through Keiko’s life after being interned.

Marty is able to find Keiko who is currently “living in New York” (280) many years after she was released. After being taken away from her home and her belongings Keiko goes on to get her own apartment and live a life outside of the camp. As Henry enters Keiko’s home he is drawn to the photo “of her and her husband, her family” (284), showing her new life after the war. Keiko moves on from her life in the internment camp and starts a new life with her family. In her apartment hangs Keiko’s drawings which touches Henry as he knows Keiko is still “an artist” (285). Although Keiko moves on from her time in an internment camp and love for Henry she still hangs onto her love for drawing and is successful with it. It is through Keiko’s life after being interned that the reader sees how characters are able to overcome the struggles of their

past.
Finally, in Henry’s ability to overcome the family struggles he faces in his past. Henry wants to “find a suitable engagement ring” (265) for Ethel the woman he will later go on to marry. The love Keiko and Henry share fades as the letters stop coming and at his darkest moment Ethel steps in and Henry takes notice eventually falling in love with her. His son Marty is soon to graduate “with highest honors” (38) showing Henry’s success as a father who tries hard to keep his son in schools. His son is graduating which is what Henry never did makes him proud and shows how Henry fought hard to keep his son in school so that he may graduate getting the chance to do what he could not. Henry became apprentice to a draftsman before he finished college it was “a job offered through Boeing” (10). Henry is able to finish his schooling in china and begin college but he is offered a great opportunity to get his career started early through Boeing. Henry overcomes his past struggles and builds a family and a career.
Overcoming struggles, they faced in the past are the characters Sheldon, Keiko, and Henry. The characters who face these struggles do not let it affect how they want their future to go. The past should not be what defines one’s future, the choices made in the present are the only ideas that matter.