Previous Year: Long Questions With Answers - The Enemy

Long Answer Questions - 2025

Q1: Why did Dr. Sadao treat the American soldier, even though it was an unpatriotic act? Describe the difficulties faced by Dr. Sadao when he decided to help the enemy soldier.

Q2: Dr. Sadao's basic human values and the education he received gave him the ability to rise above prejudices. Analyse the theme of "The Enemy" in the light of the above statement.

Q3: 'It is only war that makes people enemies.' Analyse the theme of the lesson "The Enemy" in the light of the above statement.

Q4: The element of dilemma between humanity and patriotism elevates the character of Dr. Sadao in "The Enemy". Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Q5: Dr. Sadao emerges as both a true patriot and a compassionate human being. Elaborate.

Q6: How did Dr. Sadao plan the American prisoner's escape?

Previous Year Long Answer Questions

Q. 1. Why did Sadao Hoki go to America? Narrate his experiences there.
Ans. Dr Sadao Hoki was sent to America by his father at the age of twenty-two to study surgery and medicine. He returned at the age of thirty, and before his father's death he had already established a reputation as a skilled surgeon and scientist. During his stay in America he suffered racial prejudice, which made his life uncomfortable. He found it hard to find suitable lodgings because he was Japanese; many people treated him as inferior. He eventually stayed with a poor, elderly woman whose house he found repulsive, yet she nursed him through an attack of influenza. Although grateful for her care, he felt uncomfortable with her presence and resented the humiliation he experienced. Those experiences left him with a bitter memory of racial discrimination while abroad.

Q. 2. Dr. Sadao faced a dilemma. Should he use his surgical skills to save the life of a wounded person or hand an escaped American P.O.W. over to the Japanese police? How did he resolve this clash of values? [Outside Delhi Set I, 2015]
OR 
What conflicting ideas arise in Dr. Sadao's mind after he has brought the wounded American soldier home? How is the conflict resolved? [Comptt., Delhi, Outside Delhi, 2014] [Comptt., Delhi Set-I & II]
OR
To choose between professional loyalty and patriotism was a dilemma for Dr. Sadao. How did he succeed in betraying neither? [Outside Delhi Set-I/II/III, 2017] 
Ans. Dr Sadao experienced a serious conflict between his professional duty as a doctor and his patriotic duty as a citizen at war. As a surgeon he overcame his racial prejudice, remained professionally loyal and treated the wounded American, giving careful post-operative care. As a patriot he informed the General about the prisoner and accepted the General's authority, even consenting outwardly to the decision to have the man eliminated if ordered. In practice, Sadao resolved the clash by choosing immediate humanitarian action: he operated and nursed the prisoner to health, with his wife Hana assisting. After ensuring the man's recovery, Sadao informed the General, thus preserving his official duty, and later arranged for the prisoner's escape without openly defying authority. In this way he honoured both his medical ethics and his obligations as a citizen.

Q. 3. Sadao was a patriotic Japanese as well as a dedicated surgeon. How could he honour both the values? [Delhi 2015]
OR 
Good human values are far above any other value system. How did Dr. Sadao succeed as a doctor as well as a patriot? [Delhi Set-I/II/III, 2017] 
Ans. Dr Sadao honoured his role as a dedicated surgeon by bringing the wounded American into his home, performing the operation and providing post-operative care despite the risk of arrest and the desertion of his servants. He showed professional skill and compassion throughout the man's recovery. At the same time he retained his patriotism: he had married a Japanese wife, he informed the General about the prisoner and he avoided becoming emotionally attached to the American. By reporting the prisoner's presence to the General, Sadao maintained his official duties; by secretly arranging for the man's escape, he fulfilled his human obligation. Thus he managed both sets of values without betraying either.

Q. 4. Do you think Dr. Sadao's final decision was the best possible one in the circumstances? Why / Why not? Explain with reference to The Enemy.
OR 
Individuals who belong to enemy countries tend to hate each other even if they don't know each other personally. At times, it is seen that some of them rise above such prejudices. What makes a human being do so? 
OR 
How did Dr. Sadao rise above narrow prejudices of race and country to help a human being in need?
Ans. War naturally arouses strong emotions and encourages hatred of the enemy; this is visible in the reaction of Sadao's servants and in Yumi's refusal to wash the wound. Many people find it wrong to save an enemy and would rather abandon the injured man. Dr Sadao, however, had been trained to preserve life, and his professional duty led him to operate on and nurse the American. His wife Hana helped him, driven by basic human compassion and devotion to her husband's work. Sadao's past experiences of racial prejudice in America had left him with complex feelings about Americans, but these did not prevent him from acting as a doctor. Ultimately it was simple humanity and personal values-compassion, duty and professional integrity-that made him rise above national prejudice and help a human being in need.

Q. 5. What efforts were made by Dr. Sadao and Hana to save the life of the injured man? 
Ans. Recognising the urgency of the man's condition, Dr Sadao persuaded Hana to allow him to bring the wounded American into their house and to tell the servants what had happened. When Yumi, the baby's maid, refused to clean and attend to a white man, Hana herself undertook the task. Although she had never given an anaesthetic or seen an operation, Hana assisted her husband during the surgery and followed his instructions faithfully. Dr Sadao made a careful incision and removed the bullet from near the man's kidney, then watched over his recovery. To secure the man's future, he later provided a boat, Japanese clothes, food and a torch for signalling, and instructed him to seek refuge on a nearby island until a Korean fishing boat could rescue him. Sadao monitored the man's recovery and only allowed him to go when he believed the escape had a real chance of success. They parted on friendly terms, and the American later acknowledged that Sadao had saved his life for a second time.