The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck

Dr. Sadao, a Japanese surgeon finds a wounded American soldier on the beach near his house. He is unable to throw him back though he was his enemy as he was a doctor and his first duty was to save a life. Hana, his wife, though initially reluctant because it was dangerous for all including the children to keep the enemy in the house, joins her husband in operating and nursing the enemy soldier back to health, even though the servants desert the house. Hana assists Dr. Sadao in operating the soldier in spite of her physical discomfort and hesitation. Though it was war time and all hands were needed at the front, the General did not send Sadao with the troops as he is an expert surgeon and the General needed him. Sadao tells him about the enemy soldier but he does not take any action as he is self-absorbed and forgets his promise that he would send his private assassins to kill the enemy and remove his body. Taking advantage of the general’s self-absorption Sadao decides to save the soldiers life. After the soldier is out of danger Dr. Sadao helps him to escape from his house to safety. Sadao recalled his time spent in America, the people he met, the teacher who taught him, Miss Harley who hated him yet was kind to him, the Americans with all their prejudices. He wondered why he could not kill Tom, the American prisoner of war.

NCERT Book Solution 

Read and Find Out    (Page No: 24)

1. Who was Dr Sadao? Where was his house?

Answer:  Dr Sadao was a famous and established Japanese doctor who had gone to America for learning and gaining expertise in medicine and surgery. Dr Sadao’s house was beautifully located on the Japanese coast. It was a low, square stone house, set upon rocks above a narrow beach and the beach was outlined with bent pines.

Page No: 27

1. Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?

Answer:  Dr Sadao knew that they would be arrested if they sheltered a white man in their house. The wounded man was a prisoner of war who had escaped from prison. Since Japan was at war with America, harbouring an enemy meant being a traitor to Japan. Dr Sadao could be arrested if anyone complained against him and accused him of harbouring an enemy.

Page No: 31

1. Will Hana help the wounded man and wash him herself?

Answer:  The wounded American was in a very bad state and needed to be washed before being operated on. Hana did not want Dr Sadao to clean the dirty and unconscious prisoner, and so asked their servant, Yumi, to do so. However, Yumi defied her master’s order and opted out of it. As a result, Hana had no other option but to wash him herself. Although this act was impulsive and dipped in a sense of superiority over her servant, Yumi, she did it with sincerity.

Page No: 35

1. What will Dr Sadao and his wife do with the man?

Answer:  Dr Sadao and Hana found an unconscious wounded war prisoner who posed a huge threat to their own safety. However, Dr Sadao decided to go with his gut feeling and operate on him. He saved his life even though it was for the time being. Though half heartedly, both took good care of the patient’s health and other needs. Hana even washed and fed him with her own hands. Although they knew that they would have to hand him over to the army sooner or later, they did their best to help the injured man.

Page No: 39

1. Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?

Answer:  Dr Sadao, on humanitarian grounds as well as professional grounds, tended a wounded war prisoner which was officially a serious crime. However, he did not get punished for this offence as it was never revealed to anyone, except his wife, loyal but timid servants, and a General who was too self-obsessed with his own treatment that he would never let the doctor leave him.

Page No: 43

1. What will Dr Sadao do to get rid of the man?

Answer: Because Dr Sadao helps the man to survive he wants him to leave his house and reach to his destination at the earliest and the safest. Therefore, he gives him a boat with sufficient food and clothes to go to the nearby island. From there the man could take a Korean boat and escape to freedom at night.

Page No: 47

Reading with Insight

1. There are moments in life when we have to make hard choices between our roles as private individuals and as citizens with a sense of national loyalty. Discuss with reference to the story you have just read.

Answer:  There are times when we are faced with difficult choices in life. An individual is torn apart between his duty towards his motherland and the moral responsibility of helping a needy person. This is the same dilemma that Dr. Sadao is confronted with.

As a patriotic citizen of Japan, he is expected to hand over an American prisoner to police. But this is a myopic view of the situation. If we bring in the humanistic angle to this dismal reality, then it is a doctor’s duty to save a human life. As a doctor one should not differentiate between an enemy and a friend.

Similarly, Hana, an epitome of kindness cannot leave a wounded person ashore. When Yumi, the maid decides not to wash a dirty white man she says, “Is this anything but a man? And a wounded helpless man!” Likewise Sadao goes through a tortuous mental conflict. They can’t decide what to do with the wounded soldier.

Although they try to act rationally (Hana even says that even the servants see more clearly than we do? Why are we different from other Japanese?”)  their heart rules their mind. All the developments lead Sadao to let the prisoner of war escape safely.

2. Dr Sadao was compelled by duty as a doctor to help the enemy soldier. What made Hana, his wife, sympathetic to him in the face of open defiance from the domestic staff?

Answer:  As a doctor, it was Dr Sadao’s moral responsibility to save the wounded soldier, but Hana was under no such compulsion. In spite of this, she abided by her husband’s; decisions because she was a dutiful wife who pledged to support her husband even through the most difficult times.

Secondly, Hana being a woman was soft-hearted. She could not see a wounded person being left in the lurch. As a woman, she adorned the role of a life-giver and a preserver. She could not have been a destroyer. That is why she cleaned the prisoner when her maid was unwilling to do so. She also assisted her husband in the operation on the American, despite the fact that she could not stand the blood, and started vomiting when she saw it. She was thus a dutiful wife and life-giver.

3. How would you explain the reluctance of the soldier to leave the shelter of the doctor’s home even when he knew he couldn’t stay there without risk to the doctor and himself?

Answer:  When the American soldier came to consciousness and realized that he was rescued by a Japanese family, he feared that he will be soon handed over to the army. However, as he noticed the amount of concern and care given to him by the family, he understood that he was in safe hands. He knew that although he was a threat to the doctor’s family, his own life might be saved there. Burdened with gratitude towards the family, he ultimately decides to comply with what the doctor planned for him - the escape.

4. What explains the attitude of the General in the matter of the enemy soldier? Was it human consideration, lack of national loyalty, dereliction of duty or simply self absorption?

Answer:  The General was totally governed by self absorption. He was a patient of Dr Sadao and did not trust anyone except him when it came to his health. He could not take the risk of living unprotected if the doctor was executed for treachery. He had personal assassins whom he promised to use for killing the injured soldier. But ironically, he ‘forgot’ his promise to help the doctor. Human consideration was not his cup of tea.

5. While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable, especially during war time, what makes a human being rise above narrow prejudices?

Answer: I think hatred against a member of the enemy race is understandable. In any case, it is not justifiable. Hatred is an instant reaction on any human being’s part especially during wartime.

However, in many instances human beings rise above narrow prejudices. In this case, Dr Sadao does not think twice before stopping the bleeding. He packs the wound with moss available on the sea shore. It is his moral obligation to save a human being’s life although that human being is his foe. He is not affected by the chauvinism of average Japanese citizen. Although he admits, “All Americans are my enemy” his sense of humanity and sympathy does not allow him to differentiate between man and man. He spends three sleepless nights thinking the life he has saved is in danger.

In America, he himself faced the prejudice and bitter experience of staying there, he did not want Tom (the American prisoner of war), to carry forth this impression further. By saving Tom’s life, he sets a valuable precedent of Japanese hospitality, humanity and generosity. He executes his plan of escape for the American sailor deftly.

Dr Sadao takes care of the wounded American POW in the manner in which he would have treated any other wounded man. He thinks about his being an American only because he does not want his family to suffer.

Thus, Sadao rises above the narrow prejudices to become a citizen of the world, the one who is compassionate and benign towards all.

6. Do you think the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the circumstances?

Answer:  Dr. Sadao’s final decision was the best possible one in the given circumstances. He has the instincts of a doctor. When the wounded American soldier was found, the first thing he did was to save his life. As a doctor, he was duty bound to save lives. He did not forget his duty as a citizen that’s why he informed the General about the presence of the wounded soldier in his house.

But finally, he helped the enemy escape. His compassionate heart rose above the narrow confines of hatred and war. As a doctor, Sadao could not have left the wounded soldier unattended and so he decided to operate upon him and save his life. However, at the same time, he discharged his duty towards his nation by informing the General about the enemy. And finally, the surgeon helped the enemy escape because his compassionate heart forbade him to kill the same person whom he had saved. Further he saved his family from unforeseen dangers which could fall upon his family due to harbouring an enemy.

Q. Answer the following questions in 30-40 words each:

Q. Where had Dr. Sadao first met his wife ? What had been his initial reaction? 

OR

Where, when and how did Dr. Sadao meet Hana? 

Answer: Dr. Sadao met Hana by chance at an American Professor’s house. He waited to fall in love with her until he was sure she was Japanese. Sadao married Hana when they returned to Japan after finishing their work at medical school.

 Q. What did Dr. Sadao understand more about the wound on peering into it? 

Answer: Dr. Sadao peering into the wound noticed that the bullet was still there. He then wondered how deep that wound was. If it was not very deep, it was possible that he could get the bullet. He observed that the bleeding was not superficial. The man had already lost much blood. The wounded man was shot some days ago and had not been tended to.

Q. Why did Dr. Sadao treat the American soldier even though it was an unpatriotic act on his part?            

Answer: Dr Sadao treated the American soldier because as a doctor, he was trained to save lives. He could not have let the injured soldier die even though he was his enemy, as that would have been against his professional ethics.

Q. How did Hana help Dr. Sadao?     

Answer: Hana was an impeccable wife and stood by her husband in all his decisions. She helped Dr Sadao when he was operating upon the enemy. She gave anesthesia to the patient and also nursed and washed the prisoner herself when Yumi had bluntly refused to do so.

1. Why did the General spare the American soldier? 

Answer: The General spared the American soldier because he was a selfish man. He thought of nothing but his own life. He needed Sadao for his operation and he forgot about his promise in his pain.

2. Why was Dr. Sadao not sent to the battlefield?

OR

Why was Dr. Sadao not sent abroad along with the troops? 

Answer: Dr Sadao was not sent to the battlefield for two reasons. Firstly he was perfecting a discovery which would render wounds entirely clean. Moreover, the General was in some sort of danger and might need an operation and Dr Sadao was the most skilled doctor available.

3. Why did the messenger come to Dr. Sadao? What did Hana think about it? 

Answer: The messenger had come to Dr Sadao’s house to inform him that the old General was in pain again and had to be attended to. When Hana first saw the uniformed messenger, she got frightened, for she thought that he had come to arrest her husband for harbouring an enemy in their house.

4. What forced Dr. Sadao to be impatient and irritated with his patient? 

Answer: Hana was with Sadao when, he started operating on the prisoner. Hana, who had never seen an operation in her life, vomited at the sight of blood. Sadao wanted to help her in her distress but he could not leave his patient. This made him impatient and irritable.

5. How did Dr Sadao ensure that the American sailor left his house but he himself remained safe and secure?  

Answer. The night the man escaped as per the plan, Dr Sadao slept well. One evening standing on the verandah, Dr Sadao looked towards the island. There was no signal of the flashlight. It meant that the man had gone, safe on a Korean fishing boat. Later on he informed the General that the American had escaped. In this way, he ensured the American’s departure and his own safety and security.

6. How does the writer indicate that Dr. Sadao’s father was a very traditional and conventional man? 

Answer: Sadao’s father was a perfect Japanese traditional and conventional man. He was blind about his country and loved it throughout his life. He never used anything made in a foreign country. He could not think of a foreign daughter in law. He wanted his son to study abroad so that he could serve Japan for its growth.

7. Did Hana think the Japanese tortured their prisoners of war? Why? 

Answer: when Hana noticed the deep red scars on the neck of the American soldier, she worriedly hoped that he hoped that he had not been tortured by the Japanese.  Different mouth told different stories about the war, so it was difficult to know for Hana whether they were true.

8. What help did Dr. Sadao seek from Hana while operating on the wounded white man? 

Answer: First of all Dr. Sadao asked Hana to get the wounded man cleaned. The maid refused to touch a white man so Hana did it herself. Dr. Sadao was alone to operate the wounded white man so he asked Hana to bring towel for him, helped him in turning the white man, giving anesthesia and holding cotton soaked in anesthesia near his nostrils.

9. How did the gardener react when Dr. Sadao told him about the wounded American soldier?            

Answer: The gardener believes that his master should not heal the wound of the white man. He wanted the white man to die. The white man was first shot and then the sea caught him and wounded him with her rocks. He believed that if his master saved him against their wish, they would take revenge on them. 

10. In what context does Hana remember the cruel nature of General Takima? 

Answer: Hana remembers General Takima who at home used to beat his wife cruelly. She infers that if a man like him could be so cruel to a woman in his power, he would be extremely cruel to the wounded soldier.

11. Why did the General not order immediate arrest of Dr. Sadao who had sheltered a white man?            

Answer: The General did not order immediate arrest of the doctor for giving shelter to an enemy in his house. The General did not usually keep in good health and he could need Dr. Sadao for a surgery anytime soon. He trusted Dr Sadao for his skills and believed that only Dr. Sadao could save his life.

12. In what condition did Dr. Sadao find the American soldier at the seashore? 

Answer: Dr. Sadao found the American soldier in a wounded condition at the sea shore. He was very weak and pale. He had a gunshot wound on the right side of his lower back. His face looked tortured and his back was stained with blood. From his battered cap, he learnt that he was a sailor from an American Warship. He was almost at the verge of death, if Sadao had not saved him.

13. What role did the American professor play in bringing Hana and Sadao together? 

OR

Where, when and how did Dr. Sadao meet Hana?

OR

Where and how did Sadao meet Hana in America? 

Answer: Dr. Sadao had met Hana at his American professor’s house. The professor and his wife were kind people who wanted to help the foreign students and so invited them to their house. After completing their studies in America, Sadao and Hana returned to Japan and got married.

14. What was Sadao’s father’s dream for him? How did Sadao realise it? 

OR

What was his father’s chief concern about Dr. Sadao? 

Answer: Sadao's education was his father's chief concern. For this reason he at 22 was sent to America to study surgery and medicine. By the time his father died Sadao had established himself as a famous surgeon and scientist.

15. What did Dr. Sadao understand more about the wound on peering into it?

Answer: Dr. Sadao peering into the wound noticed that the bullet was still there. He then wondered how deep that wound was. If it was not very deep, it was possible that he could get the bullet. He observed that the bleeding was not superficial. The man had already lost much blood. The wounded man was shot some days ago and had not been tended to.

Q. What made a cool surgeon like Sadao speak sharply to his wife and what was her reaction? 

Answer: Hana had never seen an operation before. When Sadao started operating, blood began to flow. Hana choked at this moment. Sadao sharply told her not to faint because if he had stopped, the wounded man would surely have died. Hana clasped her hands to her mouth and ran out. Sadao heard her vomit.

Q. Answer the following in 100- 125 words: 

Q. A doctor is supposed to be gentle and humane. How did Sadao show these qualities in the story, “The Enemy”? 

Answer: Dr. Sadao finds himself caught in the conflict of duties. He meticulously performs all his duties like a real hero. The most striking feature of his character is his commitment to his profession. He rescues a wounded soldier and brings to his house to treat him as the wounded soldier requires an immediate medical assistance. Even when the servants of the house are against the master’s decision he performs a successful operation. He goes through dilemma of whether to help an enemy or not. There are instances when he shows concerns for the safety of his family members, he even hates the American soldier quite often. But he never forgets to tend his wound regularly. He is respected for his skills by the General of Japanese army. But his character of a true doctor who is supposed to be gentle and humane attracts us during his treatment of the wounded soldier.

Q. Do you think Dr. Sadao’s final decision was the best possible one in the circumstances? Why/why not? Explain with reference to the story ‘The Enemy’. 

Answer: Dr. Sadao’s final decision was the best possible one in the given circumstances. He has the instincts of a doctor. When the wounded American soldier was found, the first thing he did was to save his life. As a doctor, he was duty bound to save lives. He did not forget his duty as a citizen that’s why he informed the General about the presence of the wounded soldier in his houser.

But finally, he helped the enemy escape. His compassionate heart rose above the narrow confines of hatred and war. As a doctor, Sadao could not have left the wounded soldier unattended and so he decided to operate upon him and save his life. However, at the same time, he discharged his duty towards his nation by informing the General about the enemy. And finally, the surgeon helped the enemy escape because his compassionate heart forbade him to kill the same person whom he had saved. Further he saved his family from unforeseen dangers which could fall upon his family due to harbouring an enemy.

1. Describe the difficulties faced by Dr. Sadao when he decided to help the enemy soldier.

Answer: Dr. Sadao was a Japanese and patriotic by nature. As a citizen of the country it was his duty to not give refuge to any prisoner of the war. However, because he was a doctor by profession he could not let his patient suffer.

Dr Sadao and his wife Hana remained in a state of conflict for quite a long time.

They couldn't throw a wounded man again into the sea. If they gave shelter to him in their house, they could be arrested. Handing him over to the police, would have meant throwing him into the jaws of death. They were in a state of intense conflict. Ultimately, the duty of a doctor overpowered all other petty considerations.

When Dr. Sadao started treating ‘the enemy’ he faced protest from the servants who refused to help him. Dr. Sadao lived with his wife Hana and a child; therefore he did not want any crisis in his own household because of an ‘American’.

Finally, Dr. Sadao’s humanity and his compassion for his patients win over his fanatic nationalism. He helps the soldier escape safely inspite of all the problems he has to face.

2. What conflicting ideas arise in Dr Sadao’s mind after he has brought the wounded American soldier home? How is the conflict resolved?            

OR

Good human values are far above any other value system. How did Dr. Sadao succeed as a doctor as well as a patriot? 

OR

Dr. Sadao was a patriotic Japanese as well as a dedicated surgeon. How could he honour both the values?            

Answer: From the day Dr Sadao found the wounded soldier outside his house, he had been caught up in a web of conflicts and difficulties.

The first difficulty arose when Sadao decided to operate upon the soldier. He was caught between his duty as a doctor and loyalty towards his nation. Nonetheless, Sadao emerged a champion in this regard. As an ethical and sincere doctor, he saved the life of the soldier and as a responsible citizen, he also informed the General about the presence of the soldier. Next, when the General’s men did not arrive to kill the enemy, Sadao was again caught in a conflict as to how to*get rid of the white man. His innate virtues of compassion and benevolence forbade him from killing the man. Thus, he decided to let the prisoner escape by sending him off to an unguarded island.

This is how Dr Sadao successfully resolved the conflict.

3. How did Sadao and Hana see the man crawling on his hands and knees? Why did they bring him inside the house?                                                      

Answer: Sadao and Hana were standing outside their house. Soon they saw something black coming out of the mists. It was a man flung out of the ocean. The man was on his knees crawling. Then he lay down there. They thought him to be a fisherman. Perhaps he had been washed away from his boat. He was a white man. Upon his young and tortured face was a rough yellow beard. The faint letters on his cap revealed that he was a sailor of the "U.S. Navy". In short, he was a soldier of a hostile nation. Japan was at war with America and so he was their enemy.

Dr Sadao and Hana were in a fix. If they sheltered a white man in their house, they could be arrested. If they handed him over to the police, he would certainly die. "The kindest thing would be to put him back into the sea". If the man were healthy, he could hand him over to the police without any difficulty. But he was a doctor and he was trained to save the life of even a dying enemy. So he decided to carry him into the house and save him from dying.

4. Why did Sadao Hoki go to America? Narrate his experience there.  

Answer: Sadao Hoki went to America to study surgery and medicine as it was the wish of his father. His experience of living in America was not very good but he was grateful to have some good professors who taught him so well. Also, he was grateful to the professor at whose home he had met Hana and immediately liked her. But he did not like the smell of their food, their small room and the wife of his professor, who was vbry talkative, although she tried hard to be kind.

It had been hard to find a place to live in America because he was Japanese. The Americans were full of prejudice. It had been hard to live among such feelings. It was hard because he knew that as a Japanese he was superior to Americans. he had hated the ignorant and dirty old woman who had agreed to rent him a room in her miserable. He had once tried to be grateful to her, but it was too difficult. In his last year, she had taken care of him when he was sick. He thought she was disgusting, even though she was kind to him.

5. What was the General’s plan to get rid of the American prisoner? Was it executed? What traits of the General’s character are highlighted in the lesson ‘The Enemy’?

Answer: The General planned to get rid of the American prisoner by sending his personal assassins and then removing his body from Sadao’s house. The plan was not executed because the General forgot his promise to send the assassins due to his ill health.

The old General had a long expressionless face, which seemed to reflect the cold and calculated ruthlessness, of the man as a general. He had an unusual sense of humour and seemed to generate fear in others hearts quite effortlessly. In his interaction with Sadao, he came across as a man who puts his self-interest above everything else. As Sadao was the only person whom he trusted with his operation, he let Sadao off the hook. His cold and calculating streak was manifested in the meticulousness with which he latched out the plan of executing the American prisoner of war whom Sadao had given shelter.

6. Explain the reactions of the servants in Dr. Sadao’s house when he decided to give shelter to an enemy in the house. 

Answer: When Dr. Sadao decided to give shelter to the enemy, his servants at his house openly expressed their disapproval. Although they remained skeptical of their master’s intention, they did not disclose the secret to the world. For them, the white man was an enemy who did not deserve their help. Yumi, the nanny of the children, refused to wash the American. The servants expressed this displeasure and they voiced their opinion loudly so that Sadao and Hana could hear. The servants constantly pressurised the Hoki family to let out the secret and get the American caught by the police. Finally, their displeasure at their master’s decision made them decide to leave his household.

7. How did the arrival of the prisoner destroy the peace of Sadao’s home? 

Answer: Dr. Sadao and Hana had a dilemma while bringing the wounded soldier to their home. Dr. Sadao could presume the consequences of helping an enemy but he could not resist helping a wounded soldier. The servants showed their disapproval right from the beginning when they were informed about the presence of an American in the house. Yumi refused to wash the wounded man. The servants used to talk loudly so that their master could know what they intended to be done with the soldier. On the other hand, Dr. Sadao was desperately trying to save the life of the wounded soldier. He operated upon him successfully. One day all the servants left the house and that made Dr. Sadao more worried as if the servants would inform the police. One day a messenger came to meet Sadao. Firstly Hana thought that the servants had informed the police. Dr. Sadao realised that he must get rid of the American. He informed the General to ensure the safety of his family. The General promised him to kill the American but he forgot due to his own illness. Finally Dr. Sadao helped the American to escape. After the arrival of the prisoner it seems that apart from fulfilling his duty as a doctor, Sadao is more concerned about his family. He lost all the peace of mind for that time duration.

Q. Dr. Sadao faced a dilemma. Should he use his surgical skills to save the life of a wounded person or hand an escaped American P.O.W. over to the Japanese police? How did he resolve this clash of values?            

Answer: A conflict of interests arises in a situation when someone in a position of trust, such as a doctor, has competing interests that make it difficult to fulfill his duties. Dr. Sadao was a Japanese surgeon who lived in Japan during the Second World War. He had spent several years in the United States where he had experienced cultural prejudice and bias. He struggled with issues of duty, wartime medicine and racism. Yet he risked his life to save an enemy, an American and a prisoner of war. He, like a real hero stood up for what he believes in and does not calculate the repercussions. He strikes a balance between his duty towards humanity and his country. He tends to the soldier, reveals the truth about him to the General and later on helps the soldier escape to safety. He can be viewed as a true hero for his bravery and professional commitment.