Ch 17The Enemy — Class 12 English (Core), concept-first.

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892–1973) was an American writer who spent much of her early life in China, where her parents worked as missionaries.

Dr Sadao Hoki, a celebrated Japanese surgeon, lives with his wife Hana in a house on the Japanese coast during the Second World War.

The story's central tension is the clash between two loyalties. Sadao is bound by the physician's oath to preserve life, whoever the patient may be; he is also a loyal Japanese subject expected, in wa…

The story's small cast turns a wartime moral crisis into intimate human drama. The chief figures are Dr Sadao Hoki, his wife Hana, the wounded young American prisoner Tom, the ailing old General, and…

Sadao is the protagonist, a brilliant and internationally respected Japanese surgeon who trained in the United States.

Hana, Sadao's wife, is gentle, loyal and courageous. Initially she shares her society's fear and prejudice; she is repelled by the wounded white man and dreads the consequences of harbouring him.

Tom is the young, wounded American prisoner of war washed ashore below Sadao's house. He is largely passive in the narrative, a helpless figure at the mercy of others, yet his very helplessness is wha…

The old General is Sadao's patient and, in effect, the voice of the state. He is powerful but self-absorbed, obsessed with his own failing health and with keeping Sadao's surgical skill available to h…

The three household servants — the old gardener (who is also a house servant), the cook, and the maid Yumi — represent ordinary, unquestioning wartime patriotism.

The title of the story rewards close attention. This section considers first what The Enemy really points to, and then the larger message Pearl S. Buck leaves the reader with.

The title The Enemy seems, at first, to point plainly at the wounded American soldier — an enemy of Japan in the middle of a bitter war, a man Sadao's country would have him kill.

The central message is that genuine humanity rises above nationalism, hatred and prejudice. When law, patriotism and public opinion all demand cruelty, conscience and compassion can still choose life.…

- Dilemma: Dr Sadao Hoki, a Japanese surgeon, must choose between his duty as a doctor to save a life and his loyalty to his country during WWII, when he finds an escaped American POW washed ashore.

As you read this Vistas lesson, the NCERT textbook stops you at a few points with short boxed questions — the "Read and Find Out" questions — that check whether you have followed the story so far.

Extra exam-style practice questions written by us on this lesson — beyond the NCERT textbook's own exercises — for more CBSE board-exam preparation.