Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a surge of anti-Asian sentiment spread across the United States in 2020, impacting Asian Americans throughout the country. The racism was fueled by the false belief that Chinese Americans were somehow responsible for the coronavirus pandemic. Find and investigate an unbiased online news source on this topic, such as this March 2020 article in the New York Times, “Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear for Their Safety.”

In what ways do the xenophobic, racist sentiments of the 1940s as described in Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet parallel those witnessed in the 2020s? In what ways are they different?

Teaching Suggestion: This discussion/analysis prompt will lead the group into a conversation regarding the novel’s applicability to modern-day issues of race and racism. To ensure that you lead this conversation with sensitivity, review the National Education Association’s “10 Principles for Talking about Race in School.”

Differentiation Suggestion: Some learners might benefit from the use of an outline and/or template to help them structure their comparison. For example, you might include a chart that pinpoints the different areas of comparison: Which ethnicities were most affected? What legislation helped fuel this sentiment?