Read and Find Out
Q1: Who was Dr Sadao? Where was his house?
Ans: Dr Sadao Hoki was an eminent Japanese surgeon and scientist who had spent eight years in America to learn advanced surgery and medicine. He was working on a discovery that aimed to render wounds entirely clean. His house stood on rocks well above a narrow beach lined with bent pines on a spot of the Japanese coast.
Q2: Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?
Ans: Dr Sadao understood that sheltering a white man during wartime could lead to arrest. The wounded man was an escaped prisoner of war and, since Japan was at war with America, harbouring such a person could be treated as treachery. If anyone reported them or laid a formal complaint, Dr Sadao and his household could be arrested.
Q3: Will Hana help the wounded man and wash him herself?
Ans: The wounded American was in a very bad state and needed to be washed before being operated on. Hana did not want Dr Sadao to clean the dirty and unconscious prisoner, and so asked their servant, Yumi, to do so. However, Yumi defied her master's order and opted out of it. As a result, Hana had no other option but to wash him herself. Although this act was impulsive and dipped in a sense of superiority over her servant, Yumi, she did it with sincerity.
Q4: What will Dr Sadao and his wife do with the man?
Ans: Dr Sadao decided, on both professional and humane grounds, to operate and save the wounded man's life. For the time being the patient recovered under their care. Hana washed and fed him and attended to his needs. Both knew that keeping him was risky and that eventually they might have to hand him over, yet they did their best to protect and nurse him until a safer solution could be found.
Q5: Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?
Ans: Although tending an enemy prisoner was a punishable offence, Dr Sadao was not arrested because the matter remained known only to his wife, a few loyal servants and the General. The General, being self-absorbed and dependent on Dr Sadao for his own treatment, had no intention of exposing the doctor and thus no action was taken against him.
Q6: What will Dr Sadao do to get rid of the man?
Ans: As the American's health improved, the presence of an enemy in their house became an increasing danger. Their servants left and Hana grew anxious. Dr Sadao first confided in the General, who promised to send assassins to kill the prisoner, but the assassins never arrived. Unwilling to see the man murdered merely to protect himself, and feeling sympathy and a sense of gratitude towards people he had known in America, Dr Sadao chose a different course. He prepared food, water, clothes, a blanket and a flashlight, placed the American on a small boat and arranged for him to reach a Korean ship, thus helping him escape to safety.
Reading with Insight
Q1: There are moments in life when we have to make hard choices between our roles as private individuals and as citizens with a sense of national loyalty. Discuss with reference to the story you have just read.
Ans: Dr Sadao faces a clear moral dilemma between his professional duty and national loyalty. As a surgeon, his primary obligation is to preserve life, so he treats and saves the injured American. As a citizen of a nation at war with America, sheltering an enemy could be seen as betrayal and would expose him and his family to grave danger. His actions move between these two roles: he saves the man, seeks help from the General out of prudence, contemplates violent removal of the prisoner, and finally chooses to help him escape. This sequence shows how private conscience, professional ethics and patriotic duty can conflict and how a person may act to balance compassion with personal and national risks.
Q2: Dr Sadao was compelled by duty as a doctor to help the enemy soldier. What made Hana, his wife, sympathetic to him in the face of open defiance from the domestic staff?
Ans: Hana's sympathy came from a strong sense of humanity rather than professional obligation. She recognised the wounded man's need and responded with care and tenderness: she washed and fed him and tended him despite the servants' refusal and the personal inconvenience. Her respect for her husband and her natural compassion made her support his decision. Even when frightened or uncomfortable, she acted with dignity and concern for the injured man's welfare.
Q3: How would you explain the reluctance of the soldier to leave the shelter of the doctor's home even when he knew he couldn't stay there without risk to the doctor and himself ?
Ans: The soldier feared capture if he left, and he recognised that the doctor's house, though dangerous for both sides, offered immediate safety and care. Having been helped and nursed back to health by Dr Sadao and Hana, he felt gratitude and trust towards them. That sense of indebtedness and the hope of staying alive made him reluctant to go until the doctor arranged a safer way for his escape.
Q4: What explains the attitude of the General in the matter of the enemy soldier? Was it human consideration, lack of national loyalty, dereliction of duty or simply self absorption?
Ans: The General's attitude is best explained by self-absorption. He relied on Dr Sadao for his own medical care and feared losing that advantage. Although he promised to help by sending assassins, he ultimately failed to act when it suited his personal interests. His behaviour shows a lack of genuine human consideration and a readiness to place his comfort and security above duty or moral responsibility.
Q5: While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable, especially during war time, what makes a human being rise above narrow prejudices?
Ans: Empathy and a sense of shared humanity enable people to rise above narrow prejudices. When a person recognises another's suffering as human rather than as an abstract enemy, compassion can override fear and hatred. Dr Sadao's decision to save a wounded enemy shows how professional ethics and basic human kindness can overcome wartime prejudice. Such choices reflect moral courage and an understanding that civilisation is served by protecting life irrespective of nationality.
Q6: Do you think the doctor's final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the circumstances?
Ans: The doctor tried his best to save the injured soldier as a part of his duty. But the ultimate question was what to do next. It cannot be said that he betrayed his country as he told the truth to the General. However when he noticed that the soldier was to be killed not for the benefit of the country but only to save the doctor's life, he decided to help him flee. In such a situation, the doctor's final solution to the problem was the best possible one.
Q7: Does the story remind you of 'Birth' by A. J. Cronin that you read in Snapshots last year? What are the similarities?
Ans: Yes, the narrative bears similarity to A. J. Cronin's 'Birth'. Both centre on doctors who strive to save lives under difficult circumstances. In 'Birth', Dr Andrew works to revive an almost stillborn baby; here Dr Sadao risks his safety to save an injured man. Both accounts highlight themes of professional dedication, compassion, selflessness and the moral responsibilities of a physician.
Q8: Is there any film you have seen or novel you have read with a similar theme?
Ans: The story 'The Enemy' is built on the pillars of selflessness, sense of duty, kindness and generosity. There have been many films and novels based on this theme. One such example is the film 'My Name is Khan', where the protagonist, with a sense of duty and generosity, goes to the flooded Georgia to save the lives of his friends, Mama Jenny, Joel and other natives. He selflessly works to save the town without thinking twice about the possible dangers to his own life.
