Important Questions: The Enemy | English Class 12 PDF Download

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1: Why was Dr. Sadao not sent to the battlefield?
Ans: Dr. Sadao was a skilled and reputed surgeon who was in the process of perfecting an invention of rendering wounds totally clean. Moreover, he was treating the old General who could need an operation. So he was not sent to the battlefield as his valuable services could be needed at any time in his hometown.

Q2: What forced Dr. Sadao to be impatient and irritated with his patient?
Ans: His patient was badly wounded and this was a cause of worry, concern and vexation for Dr. Sadao. Saving him was a challenge for his skills as a doctor and harbouring him in his house could lead to Dr. Sadao’s arrest and his treatment was the ultimate test of the doctor’s patience.

Q3: How did Hana help Dr. Sadao while he operated upon the enemy soldier?
Ans: First Hana washes the wounded man’s face and body with warm water till it was quite clean. She then assists Dr. Sadao during the operation even though she has never even witnessed an operation before. She brings in the towels and though she is not comfortable at the sight of the bleeding wound she gives anaesthesia to the patient.

Q4: How did Dr. Sadao ensure that the American sailor left his house but he himself remained safe and secure?
Ans: Dr. Sadao offered his personal boat with food and extra clothing to the American soldier when he left his house. He then advised the soldier to go to a nearby island where no one lived and escape from there by boarding a Korean fishing boat. Dr. Sadao then informed the General that the soldier had escaped.

Q5: How does the writer indicate that Dr. Sadao’s father was a very traditional and conventional man?
Ans: Though Dr. Sadao and Hana had fallen in love in America, he got married to her only after his father approved of her. His father always wanted Sadao to get married to a girl who was pure in her race. Dr. Sadao’s marriage to Hana was arranged by his father in the old Japanese way indicating that he was a traditional and conventional man.

Q6: Did Hana think the Japanese tortured their prisoners of war? Why?
Ans: When Hana noticed the deep red scars on the American soldier’s neck, she worriedly hoped that he had not been tortured by the Japanese. She knew it was a common practice for the Japanese to torture their prisoners of war in the most brutal manner.

Q7: What help did Dr. Sadao seek from Hana while operating on the wounded white man?
Ans: Dr. Sadao sought Hana’s help while operating on the wounded white man. She assisted Dr. Sadao during the operation even though she had never even witnessed an operation before. She brought in the towels and though she was not comfortable at the sight of the bleeding wound she gave anaesthesia to the patient.

Q8: What forced Dr. Sadao to be impatient and irritable with his patient?
Ans: Hana had never seen an operation and the sight of Dr. Sadao operating on the soldier made her sick and she rushed out to the garden to retch. Dr. Sadao knew how distressed Hana was and his inability to go to her made him impatient and irritable with his patient because of whom he could not be with his wife.

Q9: What made a cool surgeon like Sadao speak sharply to his wife and what was her reaction?
Ans: While Sadao was operating on the American soldier, Hana, his wife choked on seeing so much blood. Dr. Sadao looked up and saw her sulphur coloured face. At that moment he retorted sharply to his wife telling her not to faint. Hana clapped her hands to her mouth and ran out of the garden to retch.

Q10: In what condition was the American sailor when Dr. Sadao found him?
Ans: When Dr. Sadao found the American sailor the latter was badly wounded and unconscious. Blood was flowing freshly when Dr. Sadao touched his wound. On the right side of the sailor’s lower back Dr. Sadao saw that the gun wound had reopened and the flesh was blackened with powder.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q11: Describe the difficulties faced by Dr. Sadao when he decided to help the enemy soldier.
Ans: A wounded American soldier who was bleeding was washed away to Dr. Sadao’s doorstep. Japan was at war with America and giving shelter to a U.S. soldier was an anti¬national activity for which Dr. Sadao could be arrested. He could be severely punished on charges of harbouring an enemy. Dr. Sadao also had to face open defiance from his servants who refused to cooperate with him and his wife. They wanted that “the white man ought to die”. Dr. Sadao was in a fix. He could not hand over a dying man, even if he was an enemy, to the police and protecting him could lead to Dr. Sadao’s arrest. But the ethics of his profession had taught him to save a dying man irrespective of all things. So putting aside his dilemma he did what he ought to do as a doctor. He not only operated upon and saved the enemy soldier but also arranged for his escape.

Q12: What explains the attitude of the General in the matter of the enemy soldier? Was it human consideration, lack of national loyalty, dere-lition of duty or simply self-absorption?
Ans: The General is a self-absorbed man who is too involved with his own self. He being a General, his illness and his fear of death are his main concern. It is quite surprising that he fails to send his private assassins to kill the American soldier at Dr. Sadao’s house. But here too he fears for his own self because he does not want the assassins to even accidently cause any harm to Dr. Sadao and his wife as Dr. Sadao was indispensable for his well-being and survival. So he feigns to be forgetful and chooses not to send his assassins to eliminate the soldier. It is not neglect of duty or lack of patriotism which is responsible for the General’s irresponsible attitude towards the enemy soldier. It is simply his self-interest and self-absorption that make | the General take a lenient attitude towards the j presence and escape of the American soldier from Dr. Sadao’s house.

Q13: How did Dr. Sadao rise above narrow prejudices of race and country to help a human being in need?
Ans: An American prisoner of war gets washed away to Japanese doctor, Sadao’s doorstep. Being a doctor, Sadao gives top priority to saving the life of a dying man despite the ongoing war between America and Japan and the fact that all Americans were considered to be their enemies. Being a doctor, Sadao’s duty was to save a dying man but saving an enemy would be an act of treachery. But the doctor not only saved him from dying but did not even hand him over to the police. He rose above narrow prejudices of race and country and helped the young soldier to escape. Basic human goodness overpowers Dr. Sadao and he helps the wounded soldier first by saving his life and then by arranging his escape, risking his own life and reputation in the process.

Q14: Why did Sadao Hoki go to America? Narrate his experiences there.
Ans: Dr. Sadao was a dutiful son who was aware that his education was his father’s chief concern. So at the age of twenty-two Sadao’s father sent him to America to study surgery and medicine. He had met his wife, Hana in America. He had ‘found’ Hana casually and by chance at an American professor’s house. The professor and his wife were kind people anx¬ious to help out their foreign students. Dr. Sadao had gone to the professor’s house most reluctantly and there he had found Hana. He had not married Hana heedlessly in America. The two had finished their work at school, had come home to Japan and when his father had approved of her, their marriage was arranged in the traditional Japanese way. Dr. Sadao had returned from America at the age of thirty as a full-fledged qualified surgeon.

Q15: Dr. Sadao was more a dutiful doctor than a loyal citizen. Substantiate the statement by quoting suitable evidence from the story,’The Enemy’.
Ans: Dr. Sadao is a dutiful doctor and when it comes to commitment towards his profession even his obligation towards his country becomes secondary to him. He brings back to life a man who is on the verge of death without caring about the fact that the person whose life he is saving is a soldier of the enemy camp. It is Dr.Sadao’s conscience and professional ethics that supercede his patriotism and so he saves the American soldier. He rises above narrow prejudices as he realizes his job as a doctor is to save a life and not to take it away. Even after he told the General everything about the American soldier he felt restless for three consecutive nights at the thought that he was actually waiting for someone to be killed. Finally, he decided to help the soldier to escape so that he could be at peace with himself and put his mind to rest.

Q16: Explain the reactions of the servants in Dr. Sadao’s house when he decided to give shelter to an enemy in the house.
Ans: The servants in Dr. Sadao’s house were openly defiant to the fact that he had decided to give shelter to an enemy in the house. They did not even enter the American soldier’s room and did not want to stay in the same house where the enemy soldier was lodged. They doubted their master’s very loyalty towards his own country. Though they were mindful of their courtesies but their eyes were cold. Yumi refused to clean the enemy soldier. The old gardener was sore that Dr. Sadao had not let the young man bleed and die. He felt if his master healed what first the gun and then the sea did, they would be avenged. The cook too was most contemptuous of the fact that their master was so proud of his skill to save life that he saved any person’s life even though he was their enemy. Finally all the servants left Dr. Sadao’s house together.

Q17: A doctor is supposed to be gentle and humane. How did Sadao show these qualities in the story, “The Enemy”?
Ans: Dr. Sadao is gentle and humane. When he came to know that the stranger was an American soldier, he wanted to throw him back into the sea but could not. So he took him to treat him although he belonged to the enemy’s camp. Then he decided to hand the soldier over to the police after he had operated upon him and saved his life, but in the end was unable to do so. Instead he gave him proper post-operative treatment. He risked his and his family’s life by giving the stranger shelter. He even risked the resentment and wrath of his servants who were so upset with him for harbouring a soldier from the enemy’s camp that they left his house. Finally, Dr. Sadao gave the soldier his own boat, food and clothing and told him to sail to a nearby island and save himself. Dr. Sadao was not a traitor but could not let someone, whom he had saved himself, die.

Q18: Good human values are far above any other value system. How did Dr. Sadao succeed as a doctor as well as a patriot?
Ans: Dr. Sadao is not only a good doctor but also a patriot. As a citizen of Japan Dr. Sadao was expected to be loyal to his country but as a doctor it was his foremost duty to save a life. Dr. Sadao was indeed a patriotic Japanese as well as a dedicated surgeon. An American run away prisoner in a badly wounded condition is washed ashore on Japanese doctor Sadao’s doorstep. The doctor is initially a little hesitant to save the prisoner’s life when he discovers the latter’s real identity. But being a dedicated surgeon he decides to treat the enemy soldier. He is able to save the prisoner’s life but being a patriotic Japanese he informs a superior Japanese Army General about the prisoner’s presence in his house and even agrees to have him killed by the General’s assassins. He waits for the assassins to carry out their job but when they do not arrive, he gives the prisoner his boat and helps him to escape safely thus honouring both the values that he was a patriotic Japanese as well as a dedicated surgeon.

Q19: To choose between professional loyalty and patriotism was a dilemma for Dr. Sadao. How did he succeed in betraying neither?
Ans: Dr. Sadao is not only a good doctor but also a patriot. As a citizen of Japan Dr. Sadao was expected to be loyal to his country but as a doctor it was his foremost duty to save a life. Dr. Sadao was indeed a patriotic Japanese as well as a dedicated surgeon. An American run away prisoner in a badly wounded condition is washed ashore on Japanese doctor Sadao’s doorstep. The doctor is initially a little hesitant to save the prisoner’s life when he discovers the latter’s real identity. But being a dedicated surgeon he decides to treat the enemy soldier. He is able to save the prisoner’s life but being a patriotic Japanese he informs a superior Japanese Army General about the prisoner’s presence in his house and even agrees to have him killed by the General’s assassins. He waits for the assassins to carry out their job but when they do not arrive, he gives the prisoner his boat and helps him to escape safely thus honouring both the values that he was a patriotic Japanese as well as a dedicated surgeon.

Q20: Dr. Sadao was compelled by his duty as a doctor to help the enemy soldier. What made Hana, his wife sympathize with him in the face of open defiance from the domestic staff?
Ans: Hana embodies the concept of the perfect companion who joins hands with her husband and renders all possible help to him to save the American soldier. When her servants desert her she easily steps into their place and discharges the duties of a maid and a governess most gracefully. In spite of all the tension and anxiety, she displays a great sense of efficiency and knows how to conduct herself without losing her cool. She is a cooperative and understanding wife who renders all possible help to her husband to ensure that the operation is a success. The qualities of her goodness of head and heart enable her to take a humane view about the wounded soldier even though he is an American. She plays her role of a dutiful wife and the mistress of the house with a lot of dignity and it was due to her sympathy and cooperation that Dr. Sadao was able to save the dying enemy soldier.