The Enemy

Short Question Answers

Q1 What was the main worry his father had regarding Dr. Sadao?
Ans. The father of Sadao took his son’s future seriously. He never made jokes or played games with him. The
education of his son was his father’s first priority. Sadao was therefore sent to America at the age of twenty-two
to learn everything there was to know about surgery and medicine.
Q2 What state was the American soldier in when Dr. Sadao discovered him by the shore?
Ans. The US soldier was severely hurt, and there was already a blood stain soaking through the sand on one
side of him. Sadao noticed that the man had a gunshot wound that had reopened on the right side of his lower
back. If the man did not receive emergency medical attention, he would undoubtedly pass away.
Q3 How did the American professor contribute to the connection between Sadao and Hana?
Ans Sadao and Hana first connected at the professor’s home. Hana gained Sadao’s favour. Even though the
professor’s wife was quite talkative, the couple was nice, and Sadao soon moved in as a paying guest. We might
therefore conclude that the American professor and his wife were crucial in bringing Sadao and Hana together.
Q4 What was the father of Dr. Sadao’s vision for his son? How did Sadao become aware of it?
Ans Dr. Sadao’s father desired for his son to have a prosperous career. With him, he never made jokes or plays.
Sadao was sent to the United States to study every aspect of surgery and medicine. Sadao eventually rose to
prominence as one of Japan’s most renowned surgeons and scientists. Sadao accomplished his father’s wish in
this manner.
Q5 Why, despite the fact that it was an unpatriotic act on his part, did Dr. Sadao treat the American
soldier?
Ans Dr. Sadao was taught that if he could save someone, he should never let them die. Thus, Dr. Sadao did not
act in an unpatriotic manner. Even the old General was informed about the enemy soldier. Dr. Sadao did not
save an American life; he merely carried out his duty and saved the life of a human.
Q6 Despite learning that Dr. Sadao had been hiding the American soldier, the General did not take any
action against him. Why?
Ans Dr. Sadao’s expertise as a physician and surgeon was required for the treatment of the General. He
admitted to Dr. Sadao that no one else in all of Japan had the skills necessary to save his life. Dr. Sadao’s own
death would result from any action taken against him.
Q7 How did Hana help Dr Sadao?
Ans Hana helped her husband in the operation. She washed the injured man. While Sadao performed the
operation, Hana helped him in giving the anesthetic. She acted as a nurse while her husband was performing
the operation.
Q8 Why had Hana personally cleaned the injured man?
Ans Hana asked Yumi, the governess, to help her wash the man. Yumi, however, categorically refused, stating
that she had never cleaned a white guy and would never do so. And that man was their adversary. Hana was
therefore forced to wash the man by herself.
Q9 How could you say that the American was tortured? Who might have abused him?
Ans On the American’s neck’s backside, there were crimson marks. It was evident that the man had endured
severe torture. The wicked General Takima of Japan was a terrible person. It’s likely that he tortured the man.
Q10 Why did the housekeepers quit the Dr. Sadao residence?
OR
The servants of Sadao and Hana reflect a particular mindset of the general public in society towards the
thinking and broad-minded human beings. Elaborate with the help of the story “The Enemy”. (CBSE
SAMPLE QUESTION PAPER 2018-19)
Ans A hostile soldier had received sanctuary from Dr. Sadao. The servants said that it was a treasonous act. As
Japan and America were at war, they saw the Americans as their foes. They made the decision to leave Dr.
Sadao’s home when they learned that he had chosen to cure the enemy soldier rather than turn him over to the
authorities.
Q11 Why wasn’t Dr. Sadao sent to the front lines?
Ans Japanese surgeon and scientist Dr. Sadao was well-known. Also, he was tending to the senior General. Dr.
Sadao was not deployed to the battlefield since the General might need surgery at any time.
Q12 How did Dr. Sadao eliminate the hostile soldier?
Ans Dr. Sadao had worked very hard to save the man. He didn’t want to turn him in to the police and end up
getting him dead. So he made the choice to assist the man in using his boat to escape. He carried enough
supplies onto his boat. He instructed the man to row the boat towards a nearby island.
Q13 How did Dr. Sadao remove a bullet from the American soldier’s body?
Ans An operation was required to remove a bullet from the US soldier’s body, and anesthesia was administered
to the patient. Dr. Sadao touched the instrument’s tip with a hard object, which turned out to be a bullet. After
that, Dr. Sadao used his fingers to probe and carefully remove the bullet.
Q14 What transpired as the second event of the afternoon? Why did this scare Hana, the doctor’s wife,
so badly?
Ans The second event occurred in the afternoon. Hana was really alarmed when a messenger in a business suit
arrived at their home. She guessed that he might have come to take her husband into custody. But, the man
insisted that Dr. Sadao accompany him because the old General was in pain.
Q15 How did the General respond to Dr. Sadao’s account of hiding the enemy combatant?
Ans Dr. Sadao went to the elderly General and told him the entire tale. Also, he informed him because he had
worked hard to save the man, he didn’t want to turn him over to the police. The General now volunteered to send
him hired killers. They were quite skilled and knowledgeable about internal bleeding, he claimed.
Q16 What happened on the seventh day after Dr Sadao had typed the letter? (CBSE SAMPLE QUESTION
PAPER 2019-20)
Ans The cook, the gardener, and Yumi packed up their possessions and left together on the seventh day. Hana,
though, put up a strong face. The second event was the appearance of a messenger informing Sadao that he
had been summoned to the palace because the general was once more experiencing pain.
Q17 How do we know that Dr. Sadao was conscientious as well as loyal? (CBSE SAMPLE QUESTION
PAPER 2022-23)
Ans Dr. Sadao was a professional who took his job seriously. He saved the soldier by carefully treating his
injuries as a doctor. On the other side, he fulfilled his responsibility as a devoted citizen by alerting the General
about the prisoner and by agreeing to help with the soldier’s intended assassination.
Q18 The author has used ‘blood’ as a symbol in the story. Comment on its impact on the reader. (CBSE
QUESTION BANK)
Ans Blood has an effect on readers, making them realise how racist or prejudiced nationalistic pride is.
An important part of the story’s main topic involves blood. The cook also permits the bird’s blood into the
wisteria. An elaborate symbol is blood. The blood-covered doctors who are tending to both American and
Japanese soldiers represent the interconnectedness of all humankind.
Q19 In The Enemy, Hana’s thoughts and actions regarding Tom were in discord. Support this statement
with examples from the text. (CBSE SAMPLE QUESTION PAPER 2022-23)
Ans Hana says that returning Tom to the water would be the most compassionate thing they could do for him,
however she brings him back inside the home with Sadao. She also prevents Sadao from attempting to save
Tom when he agrees to perform the surgery. Even though she gags at the sight of blood, she agrees when
Sadao asks her to assist him in administering anaesthesia.

Long Question Answers

Q1 To choose between professional loyalty and patriotism was a dilemma for Dr Sadao. How did he
succeed in betraying neither?
Ans Sadao was instructed in the medical study, not to allow anyone to perish if he or she can be helped. On the
seashore close to his home, he came across an enemy soldier who was seriously hurt. If the man didn’t get the
right medical care, he might die. Now, Dr. Sadao made the decision to operate on the man despite the fact that
he was an enemy soldier. He gave him excellent care and attention.

Dr. Sadao was able to uphold his commitment to his career in this way. Yet, Dr. Sadao had a deep sense of
patriotism. He was aware that harbouring an enemy soldier constituted treason. He therefore addressed a letter
about it to the authorities and stored it in his drawer. Even the old General received the full account of the enemy
soldier from him. Another issue is that the general did nothing to stop the enemy soldier. But Dr. Sadao
managed to strike the ideal balance between his dedication to his profession and his country.

Q2 Good values are far above any other value system. How did Dr Sadao succeed as a doctor as well as
a patriot?
OR
Sadao and Hana have a moral compass which urges them to save the prisoner’s life. Do we all need this
moral compass? Why? (CBSE QUESTION BANK)
Ans Dr. Sadao embodies the higher ideals of kindness, compassion, and love for people as well as love for
one’s interest. He was trained not to let someone die if he could heal them because he is a doctor. On the
seashore close to his home, he discovered an enemy soldier one evening who was seriously hurt. If the man
didn’t get the right medical care, he might die.
Now, despite the fact that the man was an enemy soldier, Dr. Sadao chose to operate on him. As a result of his
excellent care and attention, Dr. Sadao was able to uphold his commitment to his career. Yet, Dr. Sadao had a
deep sense of patriotism. He was aware that harbouring an enemy soldier constituted treason. As a result, he
wrote a letter about it to the authorities and stored it in his drawer. Even the old General received the full account
of the enemy soldier from him. Another issue is that the general did nothing to stop the enemy soldier. As a
result, Dr. Sadao was successful both as a physician and a patriot.
Q3 How can you say that Sadao’s father was very serious about his son’s study?
Ans The father of Dr. Sadao took his son’s education extremely seriously. Dr. Sadao shared a home with his
father that was perched on a cliff not far from the seashore. When he was a schoolboy, he used to play there.
The Japanese beach was close to a few islands. His father frequently took him there, telling him that the Islands
served as a stepping stone for Japan’s future. Sadao’s father took planning for his future extremely seriously. He
never cracked jokes or made fun of him. Sadao was aware that his father was mostly concerned with his
studies.
At the age of 22, Sadao was sent to America to study all there was to know about surgery and medicine. He
returned at the age of thirty and went on to become a well-known scientist and surgeon. He had not been
transported overseas with the Troop because he was working to perfect a finding that would completely heal
wounds. We might claim that Dr. Sadao’s success as a scientist and surgeon was made possible by his father’s
efforts.
Q4 Explain the reaction of the servants in Dr Sadao’s house when he decided to give shelter to an
enemy in the house.
OR
Pearl Buck depicts the servants in a way to convey a message about Japanese people and culture.
Support your answer with textual evidence. (CBSE QUESTION BANK)
Ans The concept of housing an enemy soldier did not go well with Dr. Sadao’s household staff. Yumi, the
doctor’s child’s nurse, flatly declined to bathe the white man. She declared that she had never washed a white
man and would never do so. The elderly gardener believed in superstitions. He declared that saving the man
was pointless.
He frankly stated to Hana that the white man should not be saved. He had been shot first. He was then captured
by the waves. But, they believed that Dr. Sadao had betrayed them when they learned that he would not turn the
man over to the police. They chose to go from his home.

Q5 Write in brief the character sketch of General Takima.

Ans An elderly Japanese general, General Takima. He was an extremely vicious individual. He used to brutally
abuse his wife. He also brutally tormented the war prisoners. Even private assassins were at his disposal to
assassinate anyone. He offered to send two of them to murder the American soldier for Dr. Sadao. They were
highly adept, he claimed, and could even remove the soldier’s corpse.
But he didn’t do that later. In actuality, it was done out of selfishness. He needed the medical assistance of Dr.
Sadao. He didn’t want to encounter any issues. He therefore turned the entire situation over to Dr. Sadao. While
in reality he was a highly egotistical person, he pretended to be a patriot. He didn’t want him to get involved in
the situation. He might have wished for Dr. Sadao to commit suicide. The General was, in fact, a highly
egotistical individual.

Q6 Dr Sadao faced a dilemma. Should he use his surgical skills to save the life of a wounded American
POW or should he hand him over to the Japanese police? How did he resolve the clash of values?
(CBSE 2015)
Ans Sadao is instructed as a doctor not to allow anyone to perish if he or she can be helped. On a nearby sea
beach one evening, he discovers a seriously hurt enemy soldier. If the man didn’t get the right medical care, he
might die. Now that the man is an enemy soldier, Dr. Sadao performs an operation on him using his surgical
expertise. In this way, Dr. Sadao upholds his commitment to his profession and is able to use his surgical
expertise to save the life of the POW. He treated him well and took excellent care of him.
Dr. Sadao is a nationalist as well, though. He therefore tells the senior General of everything. The general
promises to send his personal killers to assassinate the target. But Dr. Sadao made a valiant effort to save that
man. He obviously does not want that individual to suffer any damage. As a result, towards the conclusion of the
tale, he aids the man on the boat in fleeing.

Q7 How did Dr Sadao help the American POW to escape? What humanitarian values do you find in his
act?
Ans Dr. Sadao put significant effort into saving the life of an American POW. He made the decision to set up
that man’s escape since, of course, he did not want anything bad to happen to him and, as a result, all his efforts
would be in vain. Dr. Sadao made the decision to leave his yacht on the pier. He also made the decision to put
enough food on the boat. The American was wearing Japanese clothing that Sadao had provided for him, and at
the last second, Sadao placed a black cloth around his blond head.
He was instructed to row the boat to a nearby island, which was uninhabited because it was submerged in the
water for the majority of the year. In this narrative, the doctor demonstrates higher human qualities. He
remembers his duties and commitments as a doctor despite the fact that his nation is at war with America. Even
at the risk of his own life and reputation, he intervenes to save the enemy’s life.
Q8 Sadao’s acceptance of the General’s plan to assassinate Tom was counterproductive to having put
him on the path of recovery. Substantiate with reason/s. (CBSE SAMPLE QUESTION PAPER 2020-21)
Ans Although it was unwise for Sadao to agree to the General’s plot to kill Tom, doing so set him on the road to
recovery. He had received assurances from General Takima that he would dispatch his personal hit men to his
home, kill him, and dispose of the body. Later, when the General fell ill, he was so distraught that he neglected
to send the assassins. It took Sadao three days to wait.
POW, meanwhile, quickly healed and regained his health. Sadao made the decision to assist the POW in finding
a safe escape. He gave him a boat, enough food for a few days, and a lamp to use if he needed to signal for
more assistance. He gave him instructions to board a Korean vessel and travel to an American base.
He had to go to the General for an examination after a few days. He brought up his pledge to send his killers.
The general asked him not to divulge his forgetfulness to anybody as he may be in serious danger and charged
with treason. The general also apologised for forgetting to send the assassins.
Q9 Sadao and Hana look upon their time in America with disdain due to the prejudice that they were
subjected to. How does racial prejudice taint a person’s soul forever? (CBSE QUESTION BANK)
Ans Doctor Sadao was a highly obedient and humanitarian person. He felt strongly compelled by his obligation
to aid the enemy soldier. He put the needs of the American soldier ahead of the prejudices of race and nation.
Without caring if the patient was a friend or foe, his wife also offered a helping hand. He was juggling his
doctoral responsibilities on the one hand and the adversary on the other, but humanity and compassion won out.
While Japan and America were at war at the time, no one could provide shelter to an enemy. He had been
aware of the negative effects of racial discrimination among whites even throughout his training. His emotions of
patriotism prevented him from ignoring his medical obligations because it is a doctor’s responsibility to save
humanity. Here, Dr. Sadao’s sense of national allegiance and professional commitment clashed. He could have
faced all charges of being a traitor, but he risked his own life to save the American soldier. He operated on him
and provided for him in the most perilous circumstances.