English project

The Enemy
Submitted by – Feba Mary
Suresh
Class – XII Commerce
Roll no. 17
Theme of the story
The Enemy' gives the message that humanism transcends all man
made made prejudices and barriers The borders that we see
around us are all man made. These borders turn some countries
into enemies against one another. However, humanity knows no
bounds of any such divisions. Dr. Sadao Hoki was in no sense less
patriotic that any other Japanese. He loved his country and hated
his enemies as much as other citizens of Japan but his sensitivity
towards other human beings led him to operate upon the
American prisoner of war. Being a skilled doctor by profession, he
just could not manage to see a patient die in front of him. The
sense of humanity overpowered him and made him to save the
life of his 'enemy'. The story, therefore, exemplifies that human
goodness surpasses all other factors. The story is a great lesson of
peace, love, sympathy, fellow feeling and humanism.
 Summary Of The Story
It is about a Japanese surgeon whose name is Sadao. He studies
in America and marries a Japanese girl named, Hana. World War
II broke during that time. All the doctors were under the duty to
go to the Japanese army. However, Sadao stayed back. It was
because he was tending to the old General who was on his death
bed. However, one night, an incident changes his life. He meets
an American Navy man who is injured by a gunshot and dying.
Although Sadao had no intention to help the enemy, he takes in
the young soldier and provides him with medical assistance. He
keeps him at his house to prevent any danger from coming his
way. He also knows the risk he has got himself into by aiding the
enemy.
Due to this, Sadao schemes to kill the soldier in his sleep. He
informs the General of the American and thus the General
retaliates. They decide to send private assassins to kill the
American soldier. However, Sadao chooses to save him because
of humanity and brotherhood. He realizes that he is a human
being at the end of the day. He now realizes the value of human
life as well as universal brotherhood. Thus, this unfolds his mind
which was limited to race, boundaries, and wars. Finally, he
concludes that the American soldier is not his enemy just
because he belongs to another country. Thus, he rises above his
prejudices and does the right thing by helping the American
soldier escape, thus saving his life.
 Character Sketch
Dr Sadao – Dr Sadao is an Japanese surgeon and scientist. He
became a skillful doctor and scientist to fulfill his father ‘s wishes.
Sadao is an emotionally complex character who struggles to come
to terms with his inexplicable impulse to save the life of an
American, who is supposedly his enemy, and his staunch Japanese
patriotism. He was so skilled that the General was totally dependent
o him. The General had blind faith in him which explains him as a
skillful and expert surgeon.
He was a loving husband. He consulted and respected his wife. He is
meticulous and finally finds out a middle path . He feels happy to
save the life of an American and to secure his family's future too.
 Character Sketch
Tom / The American – He is a teenage American prisoner of war who was captured
and tortured by the Japanese but somehow escaped. He washes up on the beach
near Dr. Sadao Hoki and Hana’s isolated house, and they discern that he’s a
prisoner of war from his recent bullet wound. Even though Tom is unconscious or
sleeping for much of his time with Sadao and Hana, his mere presence forces them
to grapple with their conflicting impulses to help a fellow human and 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—praise that Sadao coldly shrugs off. After
saving Tom’s life through surgery, Sadao knows that he can’t allow the American to
stay, but nor can he turn the American over to the authorities—the boy will surely
die a torturous death. Sadao arranges for the General, an influential patient of his,
to have a few assassins come to Sadao’s house in the middle of the night to silently
kill Tom and do away with his body. When the assassins fail 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.
 Lasting impressions
[Link] the solider - Dr Sadao was a skilled surgeon and a famous
scientist. His excellence in his professional field was evident from the
fact that the General had full faith in him as regards his health. Dr
Sadao was devoted to his work and to the cause of the needy. When
he saw the American soldier in a wounded condition, he was torn
between the natural human instinct to save his life and treat him or
as a patriot hand him over to the police. Dr Sadao saved the life of
the man as per his professional ethics as he could not leave a person
to die. It was his duty to save the life of a person as a doctor. At this
point of time, when Dr Sadao saw this dying man, his spirit of
humanity surpassed everything else and so he saved one life
irrespective of any colour, caste or creed.
[Link] the values- Dr Sadao was a patriotic
Japanese as well as a dedicated surgeon. He had honored
both the values excellently. As a surgeon, his duty was torn
save the life of a man irrespective of caste, color or creed.
For a doctor, his patient is beyond any prejudice. When Dr
Sadao saw the white man, he realized that the man would
die if he was not immediately operated upon. So he took
the man to his house and treated him and saved his life.
That was his duty as a dedicated surgeon. Dr Sadao was a
loyal citizen of Japan and was a true patriot.