READ AND FIND OUT

Q1. Who was Dr Sadao? Where was his house?

Ans. Dr Sadao Hoki was an eminent Japanese surgeon and scientist. He had spent eight valuable years of
his youth in America to learn all that could be learnt of surgery and medicine there. He was perfecting a
discovery which would render wounds entirely clean.

Dr Sadao’s house was built on rocks well above a narrow beach that was outlined with bent pines. It was
on a spot of the Japanese coast.

Q2. Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?

Ans. Dr Sadao knew that they would be arrested if they sheltered a white man in their house. The
wounded man was a prisoner of war who had escaped with a bullet on his back. Since Japan was at war
with America, harbouring an enemy meant being a traitor to Japan. Dr Sadao could be arrested if
anyone complained against him and accused him of harbouring an enemy.

Q3. Will Hana help the wounded man and wash him herself?

Ans. The gardener and the cook were frightened that their master was going to heal the wound of a
white man—an enemy. They felt that after being cured he (the white man) will take revenge on the
Japanese. Yumi, the maid, was also frightened. She refused to wash the white man. Hana rebuked the
maid who had refused to wash a wounded helpless man. Then she dipped a small dean towel into the
steaming hot water and washed the white man’s face. She kept on washing him until his upper body was
quite dean. But she dared not turn him over.

Q4. What will Dr Sadao and his wife do with the man?

Ans. Dr Sadao and his wife, Hana, had told the servants that they only wanted to bring the man to his
senses so that they could turn him over as a prisoner. They knew that the best possible course under the
circumstances was to put him back into the sea. However, Dr Sadao was against handing over a
wounded man to the police. He dedded to carry him into his house. He operated upon him and
extracted the bullet from his body. He kept the white man in his house. He and his wife looked after him
and fed him till he was strong enough to walk on his legs. .

Q5. Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?

Ans. It was the seventh day since Dr Sadao had operated upon the young white man. Early that morning,
their three servants left together. In the afternoon, a messenger came there in official uniform. He told
Dr Sadao that he had to come to the palace at once as the old General was in pain again.

Hana, who had thought that the officer had come to arrest Dr Sadao, asked the messenger, “Is that all?”
The baffled messenger enquired if that was not enough. She tried to cover her mistake by expressing
regret and admitted that the General’s illness was enough. Dr Sadao told the General about the white
man he had operated upon. Since Dr Sadao was indispensable to the General, he promised that Dr
Sadao would not be arrested.

Q6. What will Dr Sadao do to get rid of the man?

Ans.Dr Sadao had told the old General that he had operated upon a white man. The General promised
to send his private assassins to kill the man silently and secretly at night and remove his body. Dr Sadao
left the outer partition of white man’s room open. He waited anxiously for three nights. The servants
had left their house. His wife Hana had to cook, clean the house and serve the wounded man. She was
unaccustomed to this labour. She was anxious that they should get rid of the man.

Dr Sadao told Tom, the white man, that he was quite well then. He offered to put his boat on the shore
that night. It would have food and extra clothing in it. Tom might be able to row to the little island which
was not far from the coast. It had not been fortified. The .water was quite deep. Nobody lived there, as
it was submerged in storm. Since it was not the season of storm, he could live there till he saw a Korean
fishing boat pass by. He gave the man his flashlight. He was to signal twice with his flashlight at sunset in
case his food ran out. In case, he was still there and all right, he was to signal only once.

Dr Sadao gave the man Japanese clothes and covered his blond head with a black doth. In short, Dr
Sadao helped the man to escape from Japan. At the same time he also got rid of the man.
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 Hoki faces a dilemma when he finds the body of an unconscious wounded white man
lying on the lonely coast with dangerous rocks near his house. His first reaction was that the person was
perhaps a fisherman who had been washed from his boat. He ran quickly down the steps. His wife, Hana
came behind him. When they came near, Sadao found that the man was wounded and lay motionless.
His face was in the sand. As they saw his face, they found that he was a white man with long yellow hair
and a rough yellow beard.

Being an expert surgeon, Dr Sadao saw that the man had a gun-wound on the right side of his lower
back. He at once packed the wound with sea moss to stanch the fearful bleeding. Since Japan was at war
with America, the white man was an enemy. Dr Sadao muttered, “What shall we do with this man?” He
answered the question himself, “The best thing that we could do would be to put him back in the sea.”
His wife approved of his decision.

Then Sadao made another observation. If they sheltered a white man in their house they would be
arrested and if they turned him over as a prisoner, he would certainly die. Hana still insisted on putting
him back into the sea. From his battered cap, Dr Sadao concluded that he was a sailor from an American
warship. The man was a prisoner of war. He had escaped and that was why he was wounded in the
back..

Hana asked if they were able to put him back into the sea. Sadao then said that if the man was whole he
could turn the man over to the police without difficulty. He cared nothing for the man. He was their
enemy. All Americans were their ‘enemy’. But since he was wounded… Hana understood his dilemma
and realised that in the conflict between his sense of national loyalty and his duty as a doctor, it was the
latter which proved dominant. Since Sadao too could not throw him back to the sea, the only course left
for them was to carry him to their house. Sadao enquired about the reaction of the servants.

Hana said that they would, tell the servants that they intended to give the man to the police. She told
Sadao that they must do so. They had to think of the children and the doctor’s position. It would
endanger all of them if they did not give that man over as a prisoner of war.

Sadao agreed and promised that he would not think of doing anything else.
Q2. Dr Sadao was compelled by his 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. Dr Sadao and his wife, Hana, together lifted the wounded man and carried him to an empty
bedroom in their house. The man was very dirty. Sadao suggested that he had better be washed. He
offered to do so if she would fetch water. Hana was against it. She suggested that the maid, Yumi, could
wash the man. They would have to tell the servants. Dr Sadao examined the man again and remarked
that the man would die unless he was operated upon at once. He left the room to bring his surgical
instruments.

The servants did not approve of their master’s decision to heal the wound of a white man. Even Yumi
refused to wash the white man. There was so fierce a look of resistance upon Yumi’s round dull face that
Hana felt unreasonably afraid. Then she said with dignity that they only wanted to bring him to his
senses so that they would turn him over as a prisoner. However, Yumi refused to have anything to do
with him. Hana asked Yumi gently to return to her work.

The open defiance from the domestic staff hurt Hana’s feelings. She had told the servants to do what
their master commanded them. She was convinced of her own superiority. She now became
sympathetic to her husband and helped him in his efforts to heal the wounded man. Though the sight of
the white man was repulsive to her, she washed his face and his upper body. She prepared herself to
give him the anaesthetic according to her husband’s instructions. She had never seen an operation. She
choked and her face turned pale like sulphur. She felt like vomiting and left for a while. She returned
after retching and administered anaesthetic to the man. Thus she co-operated with her husband fully to
save the wounded man.

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. On the third day after the operation, the young man asked Dr Sadao what he was going to do with
him and if he was going to hand him over. Dr Sadao said that he did not know himself what he would do
with the mem. He ought to hand him over to the police as he was a prisoner of war.

The young man saw that Dr Sadao and his wife Hana were different from other Japanese. They spoke
English well, looked after him and served him food. Seven days after the operation of the man, Dr Sadao
was called to the palace to see the General. Hana thought that the police had come to arrest Dr Sadao.
Dr Sadao confided in the General and he (General) promised to send his personal assassins to kill the
man and remove his body. Dr Sadao waited for three nights. Nothing happened. Then he made a plan to
let the prisoner escape. He told Tom, the young American, about it. The young man stared at him and
asked if he had to leave. It seemed he was reluctant to leave. Dr Sadao told him that he should
understand everything clearly. It was not hidden that he was there and this situation was full of risk for
himself as well as for the doctor and his family. Thus it is quite clear that the reluctance of the soldier
was caused by the single motive of self-preservation. He knew from the treatment he had received from
the couple that they would save him.

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. During his meeting with the General, Dr Sadao told him about the man he had operated on
successfully. He explained that he cared nothing for the man. The General appreciated his skill and
efficiency and promised that he would not be arrested.

The General thought it quite unfortunate that the man had been washed up to Dr Sadao’s doorstep and
thought it best if he could be quietly killed. He promised to send his private assassins to do so and
remove his dead body. He suggested that Dr Sadao should leave the outer partition of the white man’s
room to the garden open at night.

It is evident that the General had no human consideration in this matter. For him an enemy was an
enemy and must be wiped out. He wanted the man to be eliminated silently to save the doctor from
being arrested. It was neither lack of national loyalty nor dereliction of duty that guided and inspired his
decision. It was simply his sense of self-absorption. He “wanted to keep Dr Sadao safe only for his own
sake. He had no faith in the other Germany trained doctors. He might have to be operated upon anytime
when he had another attack and he had full faith in the skill and loyalty of Dr Sadao only.

This fact is further corroborated by the General’s remarks to Dr Sadao, one week after the emergency
operation upon the General. Dr Sadao informed him that the man had escaped. The General asked
whether he had not promised Sadao that he would kill the

man for him. Dr Sadao replied that he had done nothing. The General admitted that he had forgotten his
promise as he had been suffering a great deal and he thought of nothing but himself. He revealed the
whole truth. He admitted that it was careless of him to have forgotten his promise. But added that it was
not lack of patriotism or dereliction of duty on his part.

Q5. While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable, especially during wartime, what
makes a human being rise above narrow prejudices?
Ans. It is the consciousness of the demands of one’s calling that make a sensitive soul respond to the call
of his duty as a professional doctor to attend to the wounded human being regardless of his being an
enemy.

In the story ‘The Enemy’ Dr Sadao Hoki finds a prisoner of war washed ashore and in a dying state
thrown to his doorstep. As a patriot, it is his duty to hand him over to the police. If he does not want to
be entangled, the next best thing is to put him back to the sea.

However, the surgeon in him instinctively inspires him to operate upon the dying man and save him
from the jaws of death. First, he packs the wound with sea-moss to stanch the fearful bleeding. Then he
brings him home with the help of his wife. In spite of stiff opposition and open defiance of the servants,
he operates upon the man and harbours him till he is able to leave. He knows fully well the risk of
sheltering a white man—a prisoner of war—in his house. But his sentimentality for the suffering and
wounded person help him rise above narrow national prejudices and extend his help and services even
to an enemy.

Q6. Do you think the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the
circumstances?

Ans. Yes, I think the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the
circumstances. Initially, the doctor as well as his wife thought that the best as well as kindest thing
would be to put him back into the sea. But neither of them was able to put him back into the sea.

Sadao explained that if the man was whole he could turn him over to the police without difficulty, but
since he was wounded, the doctor could not throw him back to the sea. He could not kill the man whom
he had saved from the jaws of death.

The General promised to send his private assassins to kill the man and remove his dead body. Sadao
waited for three nights for their arrival, but they never came as the General being preoccupied with his
own suffering, forgot everything else.

Meanwhile the fear of Hana, the doctor’s wife, that he would be arrested on the charge of harbouring
an enemy kept on mounting. Dr Sadao made up his mind to get rid of the man as it was not only
inconvenient but also dangerous for them to have him there any longer. He, therefore, quietly devised
the plan of letting the prisoner escape by using his own boat and Japanese clothes.

As soon as the enemy left, the servants returned and life became normal once again. Dr Sadao informed
the General that “the man” had escaped. The General admitted that he had forgotten his promise as he
thought of nothing but himself as he was suffering a great deal. He confessed that it was careless of him
but it was not his lack of patriotism or dereliction of duty. In short, the doctor’s strategy to let the
prisoner escape was the best possible solution to the problem under the prevailing circumstances.