Overview
instructions : Imagine you're creating a movie adaptation of the novel
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (see synopsis
below). We meet the protagonist, Henry Lee, as a 12 year old Chinese
American boy living in Seattle's Chinatown with his non-English speaking
parents in 1942, the year internment of Japanese Americans began. He
recently transferred from his Chinese school to the exclusive American
Rainier Elementary on a "scholarship," which requires him to serve the
other children in the school cafeteria every day, another factor setting
him apart. His parents, wanting him to become more American, are
delighted he's attending this school. They insist he speak only English
and wear a button that says "I am Chinese."
Contextually, there
was a great deal of turmoil in many parts of the world at this time that
had a direct impact on the U.S.A, its policies and its citizens.
the second Sino-Japanese war between China and Japan waged primarily between July 1937 & September 1945 Europe was embroiled in WW II September 1939 - September 1945 Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan December 1941, bringing America into WW II Imagine
the opening 2 minute scene (one setting, no change in time) of the film
and all that you need to communicate to the audience to help them
understand Henry and his world. Henry is at Rainier Elementary. In essay
format and using setting, costume and staging/movement only, describe
how you would visually communicate the following:
Henry's approximate age and ethnicity the approximate year/the era the setting, including the time of year, the school, and Seattle or at least the Pacific North West location the racial tensions of the day Be sure to provide the reasons for your choices. Length 2-3 pages.
This assignment will be graded using a rubric.
I
recommend visiting the author's web page using this link. The
description below is from that page but there are also two short videos
that provide background on this historical novel, describing the racial
tensions of the day, showing footage of the locations in the book, and
describing some of the author's memories and research that informed his
story. You may find it'll inspire a few ideas.
"Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet"Links to an external site. by jamieford.com is licensed under CC BY 4.0Links to an external site.
In
the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the
Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered
outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It
has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an
incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when
they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II.
As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.
This
simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the
war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement,
and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having
Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier
Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a
young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews,
and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent
love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World
ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the
evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with
the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other
will be kept.
Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the
parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins
looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost
object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is
still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of
his father; that might bridge the gap between him and his modern,
Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he
made years ago.
Set during one of the most conflicted and
volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and
Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In
Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story
teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.