The Enemy

-PearlS Buck
About the Author:

Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 - March 6, 1973) was an American
writer and novelist. She is best known for "The Good Earth", the best-selling novel
in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and which won her the "Pulitzer Prize" in
1932.

In 1938, Buck became the first American woman to win the "Nobel Prize in
Literature" for her rich and truly epic descriptions of "peasant life in China" and for
her "masterpieces", two memoir-biographies of her missionary parents.
Theme:

+ Nationalism
Humanity / Profession
War Situations
+ Lifting from petty considerations of race, nationality &act in
humanity
Prejudices (opinion that is based on reason) created by war
+ Ethics of Medical Profession
+ Conflict between duty & conscience
Characters:

Dr. Sadao Hoki: Morally conscious, patriotic, confused, determined,

doctor first, lift above any prejudice (opinion that is based on reason)
humane, careful, diligent, opportunistic, puts family first, ethical,
daring. "He had not been trained to not to let a man die if he can save
him."

Hana: Compassionate, considerable, prudent, good wife, supportive.

General: Selfish, gullible, violent, very sick, thinks of himself.
Tom: Typical American solider, thinks that most Japanese are cruel &
not humane, escapes from the prison, was shot by the bullet, very light
like a fowl (bird), pallor (an unhealthy), was given hypodermic, The purpose
of human life
Is to serve,
and to show
compasslon
and the will to
help others.
Al Se hweitat
"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion as well
as the will to help others" is the best theme that describes the story
Important Points:
Dr. Sadao Hokiwas a famous Japanese surgeon and scientist who had
found a medicine which would render wounds entirely clean.
He lived in a house which was built on Japanese coast. The low square
stone house was set upon rocks well above a narrow beach that was
outlined with bent pines.
+ Sadao father never joked or played with him but spent infinite pains
(deal of effort trying to benefit his son) upon him who was his only
Son.

Sadao father's chief concern was his education.

Sadao was sent to America at the age of 22 to learn all that could be
learned of surgery and medicine.
Before his father died Sadao has become a famous surgeon and
scientist. At the age of "30" Sadao came back from America.
Professor Harley and his wife had been kind people, anxious(concern)
even though his wife was voluble(talkative) they wanted to do
something for their few foreign students and though the student were
bored they had accepted his kindness.
+ Sadao met Hana at the professor Harley house and had felt he would
love her if it were at all possible.
+ Hana was a new student of Professor Harley.
They had not married in a haste (hurry) in America. They had finished
their work at school & had come home to Japan. When his father had
seen her their marriage had been arranged in the oldJapanese way,
although Sadao & Hana had been talked everything beforehand.
Dr. Sadao was not sent to the battle field because of two reasons;
1. He had perfectly discovered a medicine which would render the
wounds entirely clean.
2. The General might have needed some operation urgently &
Sadao was the best doctor available for his need.
+ Dr. Sadao &his wife found an unconscious wounded war prisoner, who
was washed away by the water, who posed a huge threat to their own
safety. However, Sadao decided to stand by human ethics & operated
 on him. Though half-heartedly, both took good care of the patient's
health & other needs.
Dr. Sadao, tended (cared for) a wounded war prisoner which was a
serious crime. However, he didn't get punished for this offence as it
was never revealed to anyone, expect for his wife, loyal & timid
servants & the General.
His expert fingers began to search for the wound. The blood flowed
freshly at his touch. On the right side of his lower back Sadao saw that
a gun wound had been reopened. The flesh was blackened with
powder. Sometime not many days ago that man had been shot. It was
bad that the rock had stuck the wound.
+ Sadao is wholly responsible for saving the life of Tom, an American
prisoner of war who washes up on the beach alongside Sadao and
Hana's isolated home on the Japanese coast (21 February).
To stop the bleeding, he packed the wound with sea moss that strewed
(scattered untidily over a place) the beach.
The white man (Tom) was very light like a fowl, that had been half
starved for a long time until it is only feathers & skeleton.
If they sheltered a white man (Tom) two things would have happened;
1. Dr. Sadao should be arrested
2. If they turned him over as a prisoner, white man would
certainly die.
+ Dr. Sadao personality dominant trait was Expertise in his profession &
compassion as a human.
Hana had never seen an operation before so she ran outside in the
garden he heard her retching (vomiting). But her distress & his inability
to go to her at once made him impatient & irritable with this man.
Hana helped the wounded man, as he was in very bad condition &
needed to be washed before being operated on & her servant Yumi
had refused to do so, Hana did it out of compassion for another human
being.
The Two Strange things that happened on the seventh day was;
1. Servants have left their home & Hana prepared food by herself.
2. A messenger had come in official uniform, to inform that General
was ill again but Hana felt that the servants would have
informed to the authorities about the sheltering of White man.
So she was sacred on seeing the messenger.
 "To operate without complete knowledge of the body as if you had
made it- anything less than that is murder" - anatomy professor.

"Dr. Sadao had been trained not to let a man die if he can help it."

The Blood is used as a symbol in this story, it symbolizes prejudices

(opinion that is based on reason). It represents the common
humanity shared by enemies and challenges the notions of hatred and
prejudice.

Sadao & Hana look upon their time in America with disdain
(dislike/disrespect) due to the prejudice that they were subjected to,
such behavior leads to racial prejudices which taints (contaminate) a
person's mentality forever.

The General was in pain, so he forgot his promise to Sadao that his
private assassins would take care of the American solider i.e murder
him & remove his body. So the General didn't actually spare his life; he
in fact forgot about the solider.

+ Tom pulse grew stronger when Sadao chose a small vial &from it filled
S a hypodermic &thrust it into the patient's left arm. The man will live in
spite of all he said to Hana.

Dr. Sadao first waited for the General to get the man assassinated. But
when that didn't happen for three days, he gave the man a boat with
provisions & helped him escape to the nearby island. He instructed him
to wait for a Korean fishing boat, which would safely take him far from
there.

Character Sketch of Sadao:

Sadao Hoki was a Japanese doctor who had been educated in the United
States and was renowned for his surgical skills. Dr. Sadao is a man of great
intelligence and resourcefulness, who is torn between his loyalty to his
country and his humanistic values.
Ultimately, he chooses to follow his conscience and do what he believes is
right, even if it means going against the interests of his country. Sadao is
wholly responsible for saving the life of Tom, an American prisoner of war
who washes up on the beach alongside Sadao and Hana's isolated home on
the Japanese coast (21 February).
He risks his own life and that of his family to nurse the soldier back to health.
Despite the fact that the soldier is a threat to his country. Dr. Sadao believes
that it is his duty to save the life of a fellow human being.
He knows that if he hands over the soldier to the authorities, he will be
killed. Therefore, he takes a calculated risk and decides to smuggle the
soldier out of the country.
Character Sketch of Hana:

Hana is a compassionate, supportive, and strong-willed, hardworking

character who played a crucial role in helping Dr. Sadao Hoki make the
difficult decision to help the wounded American soldier. When Yumi, the
nurse refuses to wash Tom, she does it herself.
When the servants leave Sadao's home in protest, she does all the chores
herself. She assists Sadao in the medical operations and the anesthetics while
operating Tom.
Hana is an epitome of a loving, dedicated and caring wife. She always has
love and affection in her heart for [Link] loves her family. She gets
Scared when a man in uniform appears at the gate. She is also a kind-hearted
woman as she wished Tom to be saved. However, she is not as courageous as
Sadao.

Character Sketch of Tom:

Tom is a teenaged American prisoner of war who was captured and tortured
by the Japanese but somehow escaped. He washes up on the beach near Dr.
Sadao Hokiand Hana's isolated house on 21 February, and they discern that
he's a prisoner of war, from his recent bullet wound (reopened by one of the
rocks out at sea), his blonde hair, and his U.S. navy cap. He was very light like
a cock.

Even though Tom is unconscious or sleeping for much of his time, his mere
presence forces them to grapple with their conflicting impulses to help a
fellow human or to be loyal to one's country.
When he is conscious, Tom is scared of Sadao but also deeply grateful to the
surgeon for saving his life-praises him which Sadao coldly shrugs off.
When the assassins fall to show up night after night. Sadao decides to take
matters into his own hands by helping Tom escape by boat to a nearby
island, where he's bound to be saved by a Korean fishing boat. The plan
works, and Sadao is ultimately baffled as to why he couldn't just kill Tom,
given that Americans are his enemies and he hates all white people.
In the story. Tom is the catalyst for human kindness. forcing Sadao and Hana
to consider the universality of humankind and the inherent human impulse
to be kind.

The General:

The General is Japan's Army General. He is Dr Sadao's patient. He was old

and ailing and had faith only in Dr Sadao for treatment. That is one of the
reasons that Dr Sadao was not sent albroad with the Japanese army.
The General himself was educated at Princeton and had more faith in the
doctor trained in America than in Germany as according to him Americans
had sentiments but Germnans were cruel.

He assured Dr Sadao of help in getting rid of the Amnerican soldier but due to
his self-absorption in his ailment, he forgot. When Dr Sadao told him about
the escape of the white man, he took the blame on himself and saved Dr
Sadao.

The General knew the worth of Dr Sadao as a surgeon and as a scientist

didn't want to lose him so protected him tillthe end.
Sadao's Recollection of Americans recalled other white faces:

1. professor at whose house he met Hana.

2. his teacher of anatomy.
3. his fat landlady. Recalled how difficult it was to find a place to live in as
Americans were prejudiced-had been difficult to live amidst such
feelings. As a Japanese, he felt he was superior. Hated the ignorant,
dirty woman who rented him a room and looked after him when he
was sick. He despised her and could not feel grateful to her. He felt he
found allwhite faces, disgusting and wondered why he could not kill
the prisoner.
Humanitarian considerations override man-made barriers of culture and
nationality.

Extracts:

1) In the story 'The Enemy', what is the main dilemma that Hana and Sadao
face?

a. to abandon the American as a patriot or save him as a humanist

b. to keep their servants or to dismiss them for their offensive behavior

c. to hand over the American to the Japanese military or the American army

d. to retain their American learnings or to remain loyal to their Japanese

values

Ans. Option (a)

Q. No. 2)Multiple Choice Questions based on an extract.

The man moaned with pain in his stupor but he did not awaken.

"The best thing that we could do would be to put him back in the sea," Sadao
said, answering himself. Now that the bleeding was stopped for the moment
he stood up and dusted the sand from his hands.

"Yes, undoubtedly that would be best," Hana said steadily. But she continued
to stare down at the motionless man.

"If we sheltered a white man in our house we should be arrested and if we

turned him over as a prisoner, he would certainly die," Sadao said.

"The kindest thing would be to put him back into the sea," Hana said. But
neither of them moved. They were staring with curious repulsion upon the
inert figure.

i. In which of the following options can the underlined words NOT be

replaced with 'stupor?