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I Am Chinese (1942)
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Belonging, Bigotry, and Identity
Silence vs. Communication
Family Dynamics and Inheritance
Memory
Love and Self-Sacrifice
Summary
Analysis
Henry arrives at school and notices that two of the school’s bullies, Chaz Preston and Denny Brown, both sons of “prominent local families,” are on flag duty. As Henry walks by, Chaz blocks him and says: “That’s right, you Japs don’t salute American flags, do you?” In response, Henry silently points to his button, which Chaz reads aloud. “It don’t make no difference to me, shrimp,” he says. “You still don’t celebrate Christmas, do you?” Before Henry can offer a retort, the bell rings and Chaz leaves, while Henry walks to his first class, where the teacher punishes him with detention for being tardy.
Chaz’s comments show how narrow-minded and lacking in nuance bigoted thinking is. Initially, Chaz does not even bother to consider that Henry is Chinese, rather than Japanese. He dismisses this blunder by making the racist claim that Henry must not celebrate Christmas, since he is not white. Chaz fails to recognize that Henry’s identity as a Chinese American actually means he gets double the holidays; Henry’s identity is much richer than Chaz could ever fathom. Furthermore, it never once dawns on Chaz that Henry has no reason to salute any flag other than the American flag, given that Henry has been an American citizen since birth.
Themes
