Updated on 02/06/2026
4. The Enemy (Pearl S. Buck)
Main Points of the chapter:
This story is about a famous Japanese surgeon and scientist, Dr. Sadao Hoki, and his high moral values.
The story is set during the Second World War when Japan was at war with America.
Dr. Sadao was a skilled and famous surgeon of his region as well as a scientist.
Dr. Sadao lived with his wife, Hana, and their two children in a house built on the Japanese coast. He had met Hana in America while studying medicine.
One evening, Sadao and Hana saw a washed-up man crawling on the seashore in front of their house. He was wounded and unconscious.
They discovered that the man was a white American prisoner of war (POW), and his name was Tom.
So if they sheltered him, they would be arrested and if they turned him over to the police, he would certainly die.
His wife wanted to put the man back into the sea. But Dr. Sadao as a doctor had the moral duty to treat him.
He asked his wife to wash the enemy wound, but she did not want to touch him.
The household servants (the cook, the gardener, and the maid Yumi) strongly opposed helping an American. On the seventh day, all the servants left the house in protest.
Hana supported her husband completely. When Yumi refused to touch the enemy, Hana washed the wounded soldier herself and even helped Sadao give anesthesia during the operation.
Dr. Sadao skillfully operated on the American soldier and removed the bullet from near his kidney, saving his life.
Dr. Sadao visited the old, ailing General Takima for his treatment and confessed everything about the American soldier.
The General promised to send his private assassins (professional killers) to secretly murder the soldier and remove the body, so Sadao wouldn't face any trouble.
Dr. Sadao waited anxiously for three nights, but the General forgot his promise and the assassins never arrived.
Finally, Dr. Sadao decided to help the soldier escape. He gave him a sturdy boat, food, fresh water, clothing, and a flashlight.
He instructed the soldier to row to a nearby deserted island and wait for a Korean fishing boat to rescue him.
The soldier escaped safely. At the end, Dr. Sadao looked out at the sea and wondered why he could not kill his enemy, proving that humanity rises above war boundaries.
Very Short Type Q-Ans.
Q. 1 Who is the writer of the story ‘The Enemy’?
Ans. Pearl S. Buck
Q. 2 Who is the Japanese doctor in the story ‘The Enemy’?
Ans. Dr. Sadao Hoki
Q. 3 Who is the enemy in the story ‘The Enemy’?
Ans. Tom, An American soldier
Q. 4 What was the name of Dr. Sadao’s wife?
Ans. Hana
Q. 5 How many children did Dr. Sadao have?
Ans. Two children
Q. 6 How many servants does Dr. Sadao have?
Ans. Three servants (a gardener and a cook and a maid servant named Yumi)
Q. 7 Who was Yumi?
Ans. A maid servant to look after Sadao’s children
Q. 8 Why did Yumi refuse to wash the wounded man?
Ans. Because the man was a white American soldier and an enemy of Japan.
Q. 9 Where did Dr. Sadao met Hana for the first time?
Ans. In America, at a professor’s house
Q. 10 Where was Dr. Sadao's house?
Ans. On the Japanese coast/seashore
Q. 11 What did Hana refuse to do?
Ans. She refused to wash the white man’s wound, as he was an enemy.
Q. 12 Who washed the wounds of the injured American soldier?
Ans. Hana (Dr. Sadao’s wife)
Q. 13 On which day did the servants leave Dr. Sadao's house?
Ans. On the seventh day.
Q.14 Who was the old and ailing General of Japan?
Ans. General Takima.
Q. 15 What did the General promise to send to get rid of the American soldier?
Ans. His private assassins (killers) to murder the soldier secretly.
Q. 16 Why did the General forget his promise to send assassins?
Ans. Because he was suffering from severe pain and thinking only about his own operation.
Q. 17 What did Dr. Sadao arrange for the escape of the American soldier?
Ans. A boat, food, fresh water, extra clothing and a flashlight
Short Type Q-Ans.
*Q. 1 Who was Dr. Sadao? Where was his house?*
Ans. Dr. Sadao was a famous Japanese surgeon and scientist. His house was on a spot of the Japanese coast. It was built upon rocks above a narrow beach.
*Q. 2 What did Dr. Sadao and his wife do with the man?*
Ans. Dr. Sadao performed his duty as a doctor and saved the life of the enemy. They decided to save him first and then hand him over to the police. But the man was very weak. In this way, they saved his life.
*Q. 3 What will Dr. Sadao do to get rid of the man?*
Ans. The enemy recovered soon. But still he was very weak. So Dr. Sadao decided to help him to escape. He provided him with a boat, food, water, and extra clothes and a torch, and instructed him to flash a signal in case of an emergency.
*Q. 4 Who was Hana? Where had Sadao met her?*
Ans. Hana was Dr. Sadao’s wife. She was a Japanese girl whom he had met in America. He had come to America to learn surgery and medicine. Sadao had met Hana in America for the first time. Dr. Sadao did not marry her until his father had approved of her.
*Q. 5 In what condition did Sadao and Hana find the wounded man on the beach?*
Ans. The man was wounded. The sand on one side of him had a stain of blood soaking through. He lay motionless. He was in wet rags. An old cap struck his head. Sadao turned the man’s head. He saw that it was an American.
*Q. 6 Who was Yumi? What did she refuse to do and why?*
Ans. Yumi was a maid servant in Sadao’s house who looked after their children. She refused to wash the wounded American soldier. She said that she had never washed a white man and he was their enemy. And she said that she would not wash such a dirty man as he was.
*Q. 7 What did the old gardener say about the white man?*
Ans. The old gardener was a superstitious person. He said that the white man ought to die. First he was shot. Then the sea caught him and wounded him with rocks. It showed the man was fated to die and they had no business to save him.
*Q. 8 How did Sadao take the bullet out of the white man’s body?*
Ans. Sadao performed an operation. His wife helped him with anesthetic while probing. Sadao felt the tip of his instrument strike against something hard. It was dangerously near the kidney. Then he probed with his fingers and took the bullet out in the cleanest manner.
*Q. 9 Describe the time in which the story ‘The Enemy’ is set?*
Ans. The story had been set in the time of the second world war (1939-45). An American prisoner of war is washed ashore in a dying state. He is found at the doorstep of a Japanese doctor. The story revolves around the doctor’s way to treat the enemy.
*Q.10 Will Hana help the wounded man and wash him herself ?*
Ans. Hana asked her maid servant Yumi to help them. She asked her to wash the wounded man. But she refused to help them. Therefore, Hana herself washed the wounded soldier.
Q.11 Why did the servants leave Dr. Sadao's house? How did Hana react to it?
Ans. The servants left the house on the seventh day because they felt that helping an American soldier was an act of treason (देशद्रोह) against Japan. Hana was deeply hurt and stressed by their behavior, but she controlled her emotions, paid them their wages, and gracefully managed all the household work herself.
*Q.12 Does the story remind you of ‘Birth’ by A.J. Cronin that you read in Snapshots last year? What are the similarities in both stories?*
Ans. Both the stories ‘Birth’ by A.J. Cronin and ‘The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck have the same theme. In both stories, the main character is a doctor who does all he can do to save a human life. The common theme in these chapters is, “I have been trained not to let a man die if I can help him”.
Long-Answer
*Q. 1 Why and how did Dr. Sadao help the prisoner of war to escape?*
Ans. As a doctor, Sadao had been trained not to let a man die if he could help him. Dr. Sadao and his wife Hana found a man on the beach who was badly wounded. Dr. Sadao saw that the man was an American prisoner of war who had escaped. It was a crime to give shelter to an enemy soldier. Dr. Sadao didn’t want to help him. But he couldn’t ignore his duty as a doctor. So he took the man into his house and did all that he could do to save his life. He even thought of handing him over to the police but couldn’t do so. He was certain that they would kill him. In the end he helped him by providing him a boat, food, water, and extra clothes and a torch, and instructed him to flash a signal in the emergency room. Thus he got rid of the enemy without having him killed.
*Important Spellings*
Surgeon (शल्य चिकित्सक )
Anesthetic (बेहोशी की दवा)
Superstitious (अंधविश्वासी)
Sterilized (कीटाणुमुक्त किया हुआ)
Extraordinary (असाधारण)
Patriotism (देशभक्ति)
Humanism (मानवतावाद)
Messenger (संदेशवाहक)
Prisoner (कैदी)
Obediently (आज्ञाकारिता से)
Kimono (पारंपरिक जापानी पोशाक)
Possibility (संभावना)
Word-meanings