The Enemy

Pearl S. Buck

BY GAGANDEEP KAUR
About the Author
Pearl S Buck
● Was a legendary American writer and novelist.
● Was a thorough humanitarian.
● Was the first American woman to win Nobel Prize for Literature.
● Was an advocate of the rights of women and minority groups.
● Wrote widely about Chinese and Asian cultures.
The Enemy
● The humanitarian aspect of the life of Pearl S. Buck is evident in her work
too.
● ‘The Enemy’ illustrates human beings’ ability to rise above enmity and
prejudices while highlighting the clash between professional duty and
patriotism.
● The author substantiates that humanity prevails despite man-made
political barriers.
Setting
● The story is set in a house on the Japanese coast against the backdrop of
pacific war, a period of intense military conflicts between Japan and
America.
Themes
● Humanity can overcome prejudice - Though the bitterest enemies, the
characters in the story bring forth the possibilities of helping others
during troubles despite their nationalities. Human decency towards a
wounded person motivates the main Japanese character to treat and
nurse a wounded white man.
- Also, Dr. Sadao remembers how his American landlady had nursed him
during his illness even though the Americans were prejudiced against
Japanese.
Contd.
● Conflict between self and society- Another theme of the story is the
conflict of personal duty or selfish interest and social or patriotic duty. Dr.
Sadao’s primary responsibility as a doctor overcomes the brutal
necessities of war time and leads him to treat the enemy soldier. In the
same manner Hana’s natural soft-heartedness, even during war time,
leads her to nurse an enemy.
- The General chooses his personal benefit over military obligation to help
Sadao.
- The servants of Sadao’s household, though appear to act selflessly and
patriotically, also act out of self-interest.
Literary Style
● The story uses flashback technique with a few dialogues of some of the
characters which gives it a realistic touch.
Literary Devices
● Simile

-’He was very light, like a fowl.’

-’terror as unmistakable as an animal’s.’

● Symbolism

-‘Tom’s scars’ are representative of the scars humans give to other

humans in their quest for power and supremacy.
-‘blood is the best of fertilizers’ symbolises the poison of nationalistic pride
that is passed along and ‘fertilizes’ things like racism and prejudice.
Contd.
● Dramatic Irony: The Factors Limiting Japan

Sadao’s father said, “Who can limit our future?” Ironically, Japan’s wartime
enemy—the United States— could and did limit Japan’s future.

● Verbal Irony: Killing as Kindness

It is ironical when Sadao says, “the kindest thing would be to put him back
in the sea," as it is hard to see how it would be ‘kind’ to let the man drown or
die of his nasty wounds; in contrast, the truly kind thing would have been
Sadao taking the man into his home to save his life as he did later.
Contd.
● Situational Irony: An American in a Japanese Room

There is tremendous irony in the fact that the room where the American, the
foreigner, the enemy, is taken for his operation and to recover is Sadao's
father's room, a room where ‘everything here had been Japanese to please the
old man, who would never in his own home sit on a chair or sleep in a foreign
bed.’