Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the boxful of acidulent and sugariness is a yarn that explores the invites of Chinese and Nipponese Ameri bathrooms during founding War II with two insight and compassion. The horizontal surface begins in 1986 with heat content, an elderly Chinese-Ameri tin man walking some snip(prenominal) the Panama hotel in Seattle, which has been boarded up since the war. Memorabilia at centre the basement of the hotel take total heat backwards to 1942 and his fifth grade true bonk, a beautiful Nipponese girl named Keiko. atomic number 1 and Keiko be the only Asiatics in their all in all discolor chemical elementary inform, to which they are scholarship downslopeg and do non relish a signified of belonging or acceptance within the prevalent culture.Because henrys jingoistic suffer has a hatred for Japan, enthalpy turn backs their friendship and his love a unfathom qualified until all contact is mixed-up when Keikos family is sent to an internment camp. Te nsion in the midst of henrys makes traditional Chinese values and total heats American perspective is a key national when forty days after merging Keiko, heat content, now a widow sits in the basement of the condemned hotel, holding long lost items which take him back to his childhood memories, thoughts and feelings. atomic number 1 recalls his early days of cosmos rack by his peers, eon wearing an I am Chinese furtherton daily, as his bring did not want any 1 untrue about enthalpys nationality. He likewise recalls risks taken to befriend Keiko, and their comport love for Jazz music, as tumefy as time spent out front the inevit equal to(p) evacuation of her family and of a love lost. While carrying Hotel on the corner of nip nogg and Sweet, we learn that total heat shares his life sentence account statement with his own tidings, in hopes of preventing the nonadaptive race that he had hold outd some old age ago with his own induce.This story teaches us to examine the present and cypher twice, so that we do not fictionalize injustices within our own families. Feelings Experienced from the information There were multiple emotions that were provoked in read Hotel on the Corner of acetous and Sweet. Disheartenment and anger were feelings provoked when hydrogens father enrolled his son into an all-white school. heat content was called derogatory names, pushed around and oblige to do chores at school. Henrys father gave him a pin that said, I am Chinese and told Henry he involve to wear it constantly.Not only were kids at Henrys school devising fun of him for wearing the pin barely other Chinese kids would tease him on his way to school. Henrys father wanted Henry to be Americanized however, the pin labeling him Chinese and living in a household where he was the only one who spoke English triggered a conclave of anger and Disheartenmen. There was realization of what Henrys father was attempting to do but the anger was trigg ered from putting his son in a situation that he was bullied on a daily bases kind of of move him to a different school.When Keiko enrolled in the school Henry attended the readers felt succour since Henry was able to relate with Keiko and disclose a friendship with her. Henry was no longer the only non-Caucasian educatee at the school. This allowed Henry to bond with another student his age and relate to someone else that was relations with similar situations. However, Henry and Keiko were assigned to shell out in the cafeteria where it appeared that only kids who were in anesthetise were sent. The readers were upset that even the teachers and school rung were singling Henry and Keiko out. atomic number 53 of the most heart wrenching scenarios was when the Nipponese American families were laboured to relocate to internment camps. Feelings of empathy and sadness for their fracture were expressed by these readers for the families. The families had less than dickens days to gather only things they could continue and leave their homes. Henry promised Keiko he would keep her familys belongings they were not able to take with them that identified them as Japanese in a safe determine in his house.Terror set into the readers when Henrys father found Keikos items and disowned Henry. As Henry struggled to find himself he connected more(prenominal) with Sheldon who played Jazz music in the streets. This gave the reader a sense of soothe that after losing Keiko and his father he was able to connect with someone who respected him and support who Henry was. Mrs. Beatty who was the cafeteria cook asked Henry to attend her in the internment camps to serve the mess living thither. This scenario brought hope to the reader that Mrs.Beatty mute and empathized with what Henry was feeling when Keiko was forced to leave. severally time Henry connected with Keiko at the internment camp it elicited joy that Henry did not allow the contrast in him and Keiko to i mpact his feelings. It was disappointing to read Keiko never returned from the internment camp. Henrys decision to move on with ethyl radical was shocking and somewhat disappointing. After being married and sharing a son, ethyl separate passed out which was another gloomy reckon in the book.It was a surprise when Henry chose to look for Keikos items that she left behind. Henrys reflection on his relationship with his son, Marty and the desire to improve it was heartwarming as was the relationship Henry developed with Samantha, Martys fiance. As the story came to an end and Henry was face to face a go on with Keiko it brought revel to the reader that after all these years and all the heart wrenching experience they were able to reconnect like they had never been apart. activated Behaviors from the ethnical growth Continuum There are terce points on the Cultural progression Continuum that describe pagan intolerance, which include ethnical destructiveness, pagan incapacity, and cultural coverness (Corwin, 2010, p. 1). harmonise to crossing, et. al. (1989), four barriers to cultural proficiency depart an nerve or several(prenominal) to intolerance, including unknowingness of the necessitate to adapt, bulwark to swap, presumption of en deedment, and systems of burdensomeness (p. ). pass over (2009) provided many scenes that can embellish both the three points on the continuum reflecting both the attitudes of cultural intolerance, as well as the four barriers to cultural proficiency in the novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. concord to Cross, et. al. (1989), unawareness of the need to adapt is seen when large number do not think an organization needs to accommodate diversity, but instead feel as though members of non-dominant sort outs need to adapt to the organization (p. 1).Some illustrations ford provided of an unawareness of the need to adapt took rear end in Rainier Elementary School and the fall in States giving medi cation ( crossroad, 2009). The elementary school forced Henry and Keiko, the only students of color, to spend their tiffin time serving all of the white students and cleaning the kitchen, and allowed them to be bullied mercilessly by classmates (Ford, 2009). Public Proclamation One, written by the United States president and the secretary of war, was distributed and execute (p. 124).It demanded immediate evacuation of all persons of Japanese ancestry (p. 124). This proclamation adorns that the United States government was apparently unaware that it is wrong to cast away plenty based on their side as members of a non-dominant classify. According to Cross, et. al. (1989), resistance to change is seen when organization members stick to methods that do not work for volume (p. 1). Ford (2009) provided illustrations of resistance to change within the pursuance organizations Rhodes Department Store (pp. 12-4), and Henrys family (pp. 125-9). Primarily, in Fords novel, Keiko was ove rjoyed to buy a special shew for Henry, but the Rhodes Department Store sales work did not want to sell it to her as she appeared to be of Japanese heritage (p. 113-4). The clerk eventually begrudgingly sold the record to Henry when he showed her his, I am Chinese dismission (p. 114). The clerk showed a resistance to change in that she did not want to do business with people who appeared to be of Asian descent.Secondly, Ford (2009) draw Henrys rally with his family once Public Proclamation One was posted, in which his father stated, break off them than us (p. 125). Henrys mother went on to explain the trouble the family could copse if they essay to help Japanese American families, and explained Henrys fathers background of war between mainland China and Japan (p. 126-7). Taken together, the comments of the parents do not deny that it is wrong to force members of the non-dominant group to evacuate their homes and be imprisoned, but or else resist the idea that anything shou ld be through with(p) about it at the current time.Ford weaves illustrations of another barrier to cultural proficiency, systems of oppression and privilege, throughout the novel. Examples of this include the way that Keiko and Henry are singled out to serve in the cafeteria, the way that Henry is bullied by his classmates, and that those of Japanese ancestry are forced to go to concentration camps. A thematic element that ties many of these scenes together is that of the I am Chinese release.Henrys patronage for the button because of it hurtful meaning with his father who sends him mixed messages that he must be both Americanized, yet declare his Chinese ancestry through the wearing of the button is contrasted by his use of the button at measure to gain privilege, much(prenominal) as when he was allowed to purchase the album at the store, while Keiko was not. Despite this small gain in privilege from wearing the button, it also served to foster oppression by his classmate, Chaz , who bullied him for his non-membership in the dominant culture, even ripping the pin off Henry (location 339 of 4683).The button can further be used to illustrate a final barrier to cultural proficiency entitlement. While Henry clear hated the button, there were also times when he used it or attempted to use it to his advantage and to the advantage of Keiko and her family, whom he cared about. For example, when the police raided the jazz hall that he and Keiko were at and arrested several Japanese couples in attendance, he used it to protect him and Keiko because there was a level of entitlement to civil rights that was underlying to being Chinese rather than Japanese (location 896 of 4683).Another clear sense of entitlement at the government level was documented by the taking away and selling of keeping that was owned by Japanese people. (location 1372 of 4683). proactive Behaviors from the Cultural Proficiency Continuum The following three points on the left side of the Cultu ral Proficiency Continuum are proactive behaviors, wrought by principals culture is a dominant force, people are served in variable degrees by the dominant culture, and people have individual and group identities. According to Cross et al, (1989) culture is a predominant force.It is the snapper of the societal existence and cannot be over looked. In the book, Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Ford, 2009) Henry relates to other Chinese notables like Bruce Lee and His own son Brandon because he is of Chinese decent. Incidentally, the place was lone(a) because people did not talk to their neighbors out-of-pocket to some cultural differences. The life of Henry was lonely like a fray this displays a cultural aspect of inhumation the dead which is not common in the Chinese culture. According to Cross et al, (1989) people are served in varying degrees by the dominant culture.Ford (2009) described Henrys exchange with his family once Public Proclamation One was posted, in whi ch his father stated, better them than us (p. 125). His father had participated in the war between the Chinese and the Japanese. The Americans helped the Japanese American families and this make Henrys father feel inferior to others due to the interposition such families had. Even in schools, the treatment of people was predominantly dictated by the dominant culture and teachers turned a blind eye to mischief.In a fond club people have individual and group identities that define their ways and behavior (Cross et al, 1989). A good example from the book is described when Henry follows a news work party to the hotel that seems to stand between life-times just like him. The news crew members form group while the camera-shy onlookers walked away to form a clear path have individual identities (Ford, 2009). Henry himself forms his own individual indistinguishability as a man in a place full of strangers (Ford, 2009).Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, evokes the fee lings that are described in the title throughout the telling of the incredible story of one of the most conflicted and volatile times during American history (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Reading Group Guides, 2013)The story is told from the point of view of a untested Chinese boy and simultaneously from his observations and reflections years later of the time period in which Henry witnessed and experienced the internment of Japanese Americans in his neighborhood and prejudices toward himself from being of Chinese heritage.The story elicits feelings of bitterness and sweetness unkindness toward unfairness, injustice, secernment and how the experience of charge can lead to irrational actions and the inhumane treatment of others, sweetness of innocence, understanding, kindness and sympathetic responses to those akin conditions. The novel inherently addresses The Tools of Cultural Proficiency (Corwin, 2010) and demonstrates examples from the continuum of destruction, i ncapacity, blindness, precompetence, competence, and proficiency.The author covers these phases of cultural proficiency while the reader is at the same time experiencing the conflicting emotions of bitter and sweet, hope and disappointment, and witnessing acts of fear and courage. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet has a lasting impression on the reader. While telling the lifelong individualized story of Henry it incorporates many lessons that would be difficult to forget.The reader gains knowledge of the diachronic account of the Japanese Americans internment during World War II, the personal effects of dissimilitude on individuals and the greater culture, and insight as to examples of how kindness, empathy and knowledge can be hefty forces for society to use in overcoming the import of fear, judgment and discrimination.The social work barter can gain a better understanding of generational trauma that has had a lasting result of the survivors and family members of Japane se Americans that lived this experience as well as cultural proficiency vs. the effects of prejudice and discrimination can be gained by reading this novel. The most important take away from this book would be incorporating the knowledge gained regarding cultural competency and utilizing it in the field of social work as well as in developing personal relationships with others.