Hopwood 1

Madeline Hopwood

Mr. Smith

Junior English Language

17 May, 2024

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Paragraph Revision

The appeal of genuine, unconditional love that Henry acquires for Keiko throughout the

novel, shapes to the development of their unbreakable bond which proves true when Keiko is

sent to varying Japanese internment camps; the bond the two share is sourced from the

conversations they have in thriving environments, regardless of troubling setting. Despite the

presumption that relationships can not develop at a place as evil as a concentration camp, young

Henry and Keiko did not let that stop them. The growth that happened between Henry and

Keiko’s relationship once Keiko was imprisoned, proves that relationships never stop evolving,

and are tested for true strength when trauma is involved. At Camp Harmony, after tireless

searches for Keiko when she was sent away for being Japanese during the societal climate of

World War 2, Henry finally met himself face-to-face with Keiko again. After exchanging a

greeting, Keiko hands Henry a present saying “they're the only flowers that grow here. I picked

them for you” Henry reluctantly replies through the dividing metal fence “I'm sorry,...I didn't

bring you anything” Keiko reassuringly tells him “That's okay. It's enough that you came. I knew

you would. Maybe it was my dream. Maybe I was just wishing it. But I knew you'd find me

(Ford, 164)” revealing that even in a miserable setting, the environment itself was most impacted

by the person that was in it. For Henry, this was Keiko. Similarly, Keiko could not have cared

less about Henry forgetting a present for her because in her eyes, he himself was the best and

grandest gift she could ever receive. To clarify, home to Henry does not mean his apartment with
 Hopwood 2

his parents back in Seattle. Home to Henry is wherever Keiko is. In like manner, when the two

lovebirds meet again after forty years with the help of Henry’s son–Marty, the two converse, and

Keiko offers “Can I get you something, some iced tea?” Henry swiftly answers “That’d be nice,

thank you,” the author writes how “amazed he was having this conversation… [it] was like a

normal extension, a follow-up to where they’d left off forty years earlier, as if they hadn’t each

lived a lifetime apart. Later mentioning how “they stood there, smiling at each other, like they

had done all those years ago, standing on either side of that fence (Ford, 284-245).” The late

interaction of Keiko and Henry when they are all grown up accurately defines how the

environment determines communication and relationship growth. It does this by exhibiting how

a new setting did not affect the way the two communicated. The determining construct of the

environment was Keiko herself. Whether it be in the way she was always understanding and

open, or the way Henry felt totally safe and understood by her. Keiko and Henry exemplary

represent that environment and setting are not the same; environment includes not only the place,

but the people and feelings involved there. The setting where Keiko and Henry communicate did

not affect the growth of their relationship because the relationship was able to grow in spite of

both location and time due to the environment of love and comfort sourced from the two

companions.