THE ENEMY

- PEARL.S
BUCK
KNOW YOUR AUTHOR
Birth – June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia.

Parents – Southern Presbyterian missionaries, stationed in China, where

Pearl S. Buck spent most of her first forty years of her life.

Awards 1932, won the Pulitzer Prize and the Howells Medal in 1935, for
The Good Earth which was adapted as a major MGM film in 1937.

In 1938, won the Nobel Prize in literature, the first American woman to do
so.

By the time of her death in 1973, Pearl published over seventy books:
novels, collections of stories, biography and autobiography, poetry, drama,
children’s literature, and translations from the Chinese.
 CHARACTERS
Dr. Sadao Hoki: A Japanese doctor trained by Americans.
Sadao’s father: much concerned about his son’s education, a true patriot.
Hana: Wife of Dr. Sadao, met in America, became friends and got married in Japan.
Tom: An American prisoner of war, a soldier of U.S. Navy.
The old General: a sick Japanese army General, needed an operation, trusted only Dr. Sadao.
An officer: A messenger of the General.
Gardener: an old gardener in the house of Dr. Sadao.
Yimi: Hana’s maid servant.
• The cook: an old cook in the house of Dr. Sadao.
 Setting
The story takes place on a coastal town of Japan in the year 1941
when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. A war going on between
America and Japan. Japanese were hostile to the Americans and
ready to kill any American found in their soil.

Theme
‘The Enemy’ gives the message that humanism transcends all
man made prejudices and barriers. Dr. Sadao upholds the ethics
of medical profession in treating an enemy. The story is a great
lesson of peace, love, sympathy, fellow feeling and humanism.
 INTRODUCTION

The story highlights how a Japanese doctor saves the life of an

American prisoner of war and rises above narrow national prejudices.
He risks his honour, career, position and life by sheltering a war
prisoner of the enemy camp and saving his life. The author has
beautifully portrayed the conflict in the doctor’s mind as a private
individual and as a citizen with a sense of national loyalty.
 GIST OF THE CHAPTER
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
 SUMMARY
Sadao was a Japanese surgeon. He studied in America and returned with Hana, a
Japanese girl whom he met there, and married her in Japan and settled down
comfortably. While most of the doctors were sent to serve the Japanese army in the
World War II, Sadao was allowed to stay home because he was wanted by the old
General who was dying. But one night into his uneventful life came an American
Navy-man, shot, wounded and dying. Though unwilling to help his enemy, Sadao
took the young soldier into his house and provided him with medical aid. He was in
danger from that moment. Soon his servants left him. Dr. Sadao saw that the soldier
was getting well and absolutely alright. Once his patient was no more in need of him,
the doctor turned out to be his assassin, conspiring to kill him in his sleep. He
informed the General of the American and the General promised, he would send his
private men to kill the American. Sadao awaited the American’s death every morning
but to his gloom the man was still alive, healthier and posing danger to him. At this
point Sadao becomes the real man in him, a true human being who realizes the
essential worth of human life and universal brotherhood. He thinks beyond countries
and continents and races and wars. He finds no reason to believe that the American
is his enemy. Sadao rescues the American. Thus Sadao rises above narrow
prejudices and acts in a truly humanitarian way.
MORAL/ MESSAGE OF THE LESSON –
The theme of racism is reflected in the story in several ways. When Sadao recalls how he met Hana, he
remembers that he didn’t become serious with her until he was sure that she “had been pure in her race”
because otherwise, his father wouldn’t have approved. Yumi refused to touch the American, let alone wash
him before the operation, and when he left she “cleaned the guest room thoroughly…to get the white man’s
smell out of it.” Sadao has strong feelings about white people. He thinks that they are “repulsive” and that
“it was a relief to be openly at war with them at last.” He also believed that Americans were full of
prejudice, and it had been bitter to live there, knowing himself they’re superior. With the backdrop of the
Second World War, the author highlights the horrors of war by portraying the helpless American sailor, who
was tortured.
The author advocates universal brotherhood and highlights that service to the wounded is the best service to
humanity. The story underlines the message that doctors have no nationality. They must rise above all petty
like Sadao did and make all possible efforts to save human life.
The Enemy’ gives the message that humanism transcends all man made prejudices and barriers . Dr Sadao
upholds the ethics of medical profession in treating an enemy. The story is a great lesson of peace,love,
sympathy, fellow feeling and humanism.
THANK YOU

NAME : SONAL
CLASS : XIIC
SUBJECT : ENGLISH