We just finished reading "V-J Day" in class. What are your thoughts now that you've learned that it was Henry's father who fixed it so that Henry's letters never made it to Keiko?
What are your reactions to this scene? What are your thoughts about Henry’s father, as well as Henry’s reactions to the learning this piece of information at the same moment his father dies?
Blog Response assigned: Wednesday, April 27
Due: Friday morning, April 29
I feel that it was a very cruel thing to do, but if he had not interfered with the connection of Henry and Keiko, there may have been a different outcome between Henry's marriage with Ethel. Also, I feel it would be hard to freak out on your father while he was lying on his death bed.
ReplyDeleteGG The Emu42
I think his father is cruel. Henry loved Keiko and always wanted to see her. But when Henry found out that his father had been making sure the letters were not getting to Keiko, Henry was so upset. Just think Keiko never got all the letters explaining if she got home where to meet him or he misses her ect. But when I saw that his dad said he did it for Henry I thought it was a complete lie. Henry's father did it for himself, he didn't care about Henry, he just didn't want Henry to marry someone that was Japanese. I would have no emotion tourds my father at all if that happened. Henry's father needed to realize that even if they look different, have a different skin color, or have a different culture, everyone is American in America. And there is nothing that he could change about that.
ReplyDeletemsGemini11
I personally think that it is horrible that Henry’s father would 'fix' the letters so they wouldn’t reach him. I think that Henry’s proposal to Ethel was sort of a surprise to me. I figured he proposed when he was much older. It was sort of bitter sweet when Henry’s father died because it was just after his proposal. I think Henry’s father is a decent father who was trying to protect his son. Although I think he is WAY to over protective I think he still made the right decision from his point of view.
ReplyDeletes.f.
Sierra Foxtrot
First of all I would like to say that it was great to hear how people reacted to the Japanese surrendering, I thought I was amazing.
ReplyDeleteAs for Henry's father I think that what he did was awful. He watched his son's heart break from the front row and he did nothing about actually, he caused it. I think Henry's father was trying to do the best thing for his son but he did it in an entirely wrong way. If he knew how his son felt about Keiko he should not have done what he did and he should have at least giving the situation a second thought. Even though Henry's life turned out ok he left Henry wondering about what would have happened if he would have gotten Keiko's letters and I think that is one of the worst things you can do to your son, leaving him wondering. But I think Henry's reaction was very sweet and I think he made a good decision to marry Ethel even though his decision did not include him being with Keiko.
LK Bertha98
When I read the chapter "V-J Day", I was so shocked that Henry's father would do that. I know he was against Japanese but I still didn't think he would take it that far. All that time Henry thought he was writing to Keiko and she was getting his letters and she just had forgotten about him since she stopped writing but really, she never got HIS letters. I never really liked his father anyways but now I really don't like him, that is just wrong of him to do that. He should be able to talk to whoever he wants to talk to. I hope my father would never do that to me. I also think that it was wrong of his dad to tell him when he was about to die because then Henry couldn't even question him about it. Henry would want to let Keiko know what happened but he would probably never see her again. I'm wondering now though if Ethel knew all along that the letters hadn't been going to Keiko since Ethel worked at the post office.
ReplyDeletelcpink30
I was shocked when I read that Henry's father was responsible for stopping Henry from communicating with Keiko the whole time she was at the camp. If I was Henry I would be angry with my father but touched that he loved me so much that he felt like he had to protect me from that even though that's what I wanted. I think that Henry was so upset and sad, and even in denial that his father just died but happy because he had just gotten engaged to Ethel. Also I think that he was so angry with his father that he kept the letters from Keiko from him the whole time and led him to believe that she didn't care about him anymore, which I think was even worse since he had thought that he saw Keiko in the crowd of people and he still hadn't lost those feelings for her.
ReplyDeleteabgolfer
My reaction to the scene was that I was very surprised. This changed how I thought about Henry's father and his morals. It takes a bold person to rig the mail system so that the letters Henry put his faith into (and his money, he always used First Class Shipping), and then tell your son, in his face, that you did it. I understand that he was doing it to clear his conscience because of superstition, but it would be very hard for me to do that.
ReplyDeleteHenry's reaction learning this information as his father dies was pretty bad for him. I know if I was in his situation I would be devastated for both reasons. Although he took it well, I think it affected his life from then on out.
rs suprise838
My thoughts on Henry's Dad was questionable. I mean I don't know if that Henry liking a Japanese girl was so bad. But, according to Henry's Dad they are the enemy. Even though, she is not fighting in the Japanese army. I think that he could have let Henry see the letters because Henry really likes Keiko and now she is taken away from him. I also think that Henry's father was a little over protective because he is 13 and he can make his own choices which is what Henry's father said.
ReplyDeletetsace12
Personally, I wasn't convinced Keiko stopped writing to Henry before this chapter. I knew there was something strange or fixed with that situation. Still, when Henry's father makes such a confession on his deathbed, I was shocked and angered and curoius: Where would Henry's relationship with Keiko be without his fathers intruding?
ReplyDeleterdRoxy4
I was very shocked that Henry's dad arranged that the letters Henry tried to send never made it to her. I think that Henry's father was wrong in doing thist and that Henry's whole life could have potentially been with Keiko, his first love. I also think that he should have told Henry earlier what he did and not waited to tell Henry right before he died. I believe this goes along with the lack of communication, and if they had a stronger relationship this scene probabaly would have never happened. If I were in Henry's position I would have mixed emotions, I would be upset at my father, sad that he died, and worried that I might have broken Keiko's heart.
ReplyDelete-ampettyfer
I think that it is terrible how Henry found out about what his father did right as his father was dying. It is so sad because Henry and his father were already not seeing eye to eye and they never really had a chance to make-up or forgive each other before his father died. I think that it made it even worse dfor Henry and his memories of his father because he never had a chance to register and possiblty try to forgive his father. His memomories of his father would probably all be in vain because of the thing that his father told him as he died. I was upset because I knew that no matter how many times he tried to explain why he did it, it wouldnt matter because Henry would still be mad at his father and things would never have been completly right between them.
ReplyDelete~C.H.Lafandala
I think that Henry's father was trying to protect Henry. Even up until the last days of fighting, the Japanese were still hiding in bushes, caves, tunnels, spending their dying breaths trying to eliminate as many Americans as possible for the glory of the Empire. They still controlled many Pacific islands, and chunks of the Asian mainland, and were not willing to hand them over. Henry's father had seen them reduce China to rubble. He had gotten into a mindset of Japanese = The Bad Guys. In this way, Keiko = The Bad Guys. He probably feared Keiko a little, but I think he feared of how all of the other peoples of America would think of his son, "dating" a Japanese girl. So he called up his "connections", "accidently left a few hundred dollars outside the post office", and made sure that Henry and Keiko were totally separated. 2 years of total separation do things to relationships.
ReplyDeleteI think that I cannot blame Henry's father for doing the things he has done, because I think that he felt he was doing everything he did for the glory of the Republic of China, and spent his last days still fighting Mao Zedong's People's Liberation Army, or the Japanese stranglers hiding somewhere in Manchukuo.
-mbjohann72
Now that I have learned that Henryy's father fixed the movement of Henry's and Keiko's letters to one another, I see him as, almost a selfish man. I'm sure that in his mind he was thinking that he," was doing what was best for Henry", but really, what he did was ruin what could have been true love. The ending of this book could have been completely different if Henry's father never fixed the letters. Henry could have actually ended up waiting for Keiko and getting married to her..not Ethel. My reaction when I read this scene was sadening and in awe that his father would actually do something like that. I could definitely see him doing it, it's not like I was exactly surprised at the fact, but I was certainly dissapointed. I can only imagine how overwhelmed Henry must have felt in that very moment. To have your father admit to one of his mistakes that could have altered your life..the pass on. I think when Henry bolted out of the door to the Panama, he did it on instinct. He went to the place he knew he would find clarity and make sense of all that has happened. I do not think that he even second guessed going to the Panama, not until he realized that the further he went, the closer he was to breaking Ethel's heart, which she did not deserve. I will be very interested in how this novel closes.
ReplyDeletelclorenzo5
When I found out what Henry's father had done, it tore at my heart strings. Mr. Lee honestly thought what he was doing was right for his son. He thought that with time, Henry would forget about Keiko and move on. What he wasn't counting on was the strength of the bond of love between them. To quote a favorite movie, "The Princess Bride," the twosome "shared a bond of love" that cannot even be found "with a thousand bloodhounds" or broken "with a thousand swords." I'm sure if Mr. Lee knew the agony his son suffered through not knowing whether Keiko really cared about him or not, he would have never done what he had done.
ReplyDeletemjaphrodite20
I think it was not right for Herny's father to do this to him. He claims it was "for Herny's own good" but I actually think it wasn't. Henry didn't know what was goin on, he thought Keiko had stopped writing but it was his father's fault. I think that was a horrible thing to do to them and I think Henry's father should have let the letters continue to arrive.
ReplyDeletecichocothunder25
In my opinion Henry's father is a terrible man. I mean how could he just stop these letters that he pours his heart into from getting to the person who he cares about the most.
ReplyDeletejkricosauve