CBSE Class 12 English HOTs The Enemy Set 04

Question. It is the time of the World War. An American prisoner of war is washed ashore in a dying state and is found at the doorstep of a Japanese doctor. Should he save him as a doctor or hand him over to the Army as a patriot?
Answer: As a doctor and as an individual, his first duty is to save the man by giving him the necessary medical help, as it is his ethical responsibility, whatever the risks. Later on, he should be patriotic and inform the Police or the Army about the presence of the American prisoner of war at his house, making it clear to them that the American is in a critical state.

Question. Who was Dr Sadao? Where was his house?
Answer: Dr Sadao Hoki was a famous Japanese surgeon and scientist. He completed his study of medicine in America. He lived in a house which was built on the Japanese coast. The house was surrounded by pine trees.

Question. Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?
Answer: Dr Sadao knew that he would be arrested if he gave shelter to an American in their house, as Japan was at war with America. The wounded man was an escaped prisoner of war who had escaped with a bullet in his body. Harbouring an enemy would mean being a traitor. If somebody complained, Dr Sadao could be arrested for treason.

Question. Will Hana help the wounded man and wash him herself?
Answer: Yes, Hana did help the wounded man. As he was in a very bad condition and needed to be washed before being operated on and her servant Yumi had refused to do so, Hana did it out of compassion for another human being.

Question. What will Dr Sadao and his wife do with the man?
Answer: Dr Sadao and his wife Hana brought the wounded man to their house and helped him greatly. Sadao operated on him and saved his life by removing the bullet in his body. Hana washed him and served him when none of their servants wanted to do so, as he was an enemy soldier. Dr Sadao finally even helped him escape to safety.

Question. Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?
Answer: It was now unlikely that Dr Sadao would be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy because the old General was being treated by Dr Sadao. If he was arrested, there would be no one to operate upon the General in case of an emergency. Further, Sadao had informed the General about the presence of the American in his house.

Question. What will Dr Sadao do to get rid of the man? or How did Dr Sadao get rid of the enemy soldier? 
Answer: Dr Sadao first waited for the General to get the man assassinated. But when that didn't happen for three days, he gave the man a boat with provisions and helped him escape to a nearby island. He instructed him to wait for a Korean fishing boat, which would safely take him far from there.

Question. 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.
Answer: There are times when we are faced with difficult choices in life. An individual is torn between his duty towards his motherland and the moral and ethical responsibility of helping a needy person when you can do so. This is the same dilemma that Sadao is confronted with. Patriotic citizens of Japan were expected to hand over an American prisoner of war at the time of the Second World War. But this is a short-sighted view of the situation. If we bring in the humanistic angle to this dismal reality, then it is a doctor's duty to save a human life. As a doctor, one should not differentiate between an enemy and an ally. How could Sadao leave Tom to bleed to death? Similarly, Hana is an epitome of humanity and kindness, and cannot leave a wounded person to die. When Yumi, the children's governess, decides not to wash the wounded American, she says, “Is this anything but a man? And a wounded helpless man!" Likewise, Sadao goes through a torturous mental conflict.

Question. 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? 
Answer: It was a humanitarian gesture by Hana when she helped Sadao in caring for the American soldier. Hana's loving, considerate and sympathetic nature came to the fore in the face of open defiance from the domestic staff. She also respected her husband and followed his example by helping the enemy soldier.

Question. 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?
Answer: Tom, the American prisoner of war, knew fully well that Dr Sadao had saved his life, although, being Japanese citizens, they could have left him to fend for himself. He was aware of their empathy towards him. Moreover, he understood that their house was a safe haven for him because they had stayed in America and could communicate with him easily in English. The circumstances were not in his favour due to his ill health and serious wounds. Tom sensed the essential goodness of Sadao and Hana. In his heart of hearts, he was very sure that they will not hand him over to the authorities, who had earlier, as the scars on his neck prove, inflicted inhuman treatment on him. So, he was reluctant to leave the Sadao household.

Question. 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? 
Answer: The General was totally self-absorbed in his own health problem and he could not afford to lose Dr Sadao if he had been arrested for helping an enemy soldier. The General did not have any human considerations or lack of national loyalty. He was not neglecting his duty, because he informed Dr Sadao that he would be send assassins to kill the American soldier, although later on he forgot all about it.

Question. While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable, especially during wartime, what makes a human being rise above narrow prejudices?
Answer: In many instances, human beings rise above narrow prejudices. In this case, Dr Sadao does not think twice before stopping the bleeding in the American soldier. He packs the wound with moss available on the seashore. It is his moral obligation to save a human being's life, although that human being is his enemy. Although he admits, ''All Americans are my enemy'', his sense of humanity and empathy does not allow him to differentiate between man and man. He spends three sleepless nights thinking that the life he has saved is in danger. Dr Sadao takes care of the wounded American in the same manner as he would have treated any other wounded man. He thinks about the man being an American only because he does not want his family to suffer. Thus, Sadao rises above narrow prejudices to become a citizen of the world, someone who is compassionate and benign towards all.

Question. Do you think the doctor's final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the circumstances? or Do you think Dr Sadao's final decision was the best possible one in the circumstances? Why/ Why not? Explain with reference to the story, 'The Enemy'. 
Answer: When Dr Sadao came across the prisoner of war, the first thing he did was to save his life. As a doctor, he fulfilled the moral and ethical obligation of saving a human life. Next, he proved himself loyal to his country by informing the General about the enemy soldier. When the General assured Sadao of sending private assassins to eliminate the American, Dr Sadao felt restless and guilty of betraying the same person whose life he had saved. After spending three sleepless nights waiting for the assassins who never came, he finally worked out a plan to let Tom, the American prisoner of war, escape. By letting him escape, Dr Sadao proves that even if two countries are at war, the religion of humanity does not change. Its basic principle is saving a human life, which Sadao does with success. In a way, Dr Sadao echoes the author's views against war and the hatred that it generates between man and man. Through Dr Sadao, the author conveys the message of universal brotherhood, peace and amity. It is the best solution to the problem.

Question. Does the story remind you of 'Birth' by AJ Cronin that you read in Snapshots last year? What are the similarities?
Answer: There is much similarity between both the stories. The two stories are about doctors who use their skill to try and save human beings who are almost dead. Both stories highlight the issues of a sense of duty, selflessness, humanitarian feelings, love and affection.

Question. Is there any film you have seen or novel you have read with a similar theme?
Answer: This story is based on a strong sense of duty, selflessness, humanitarian gestures and love for a fellow human being. A movie with a similar theme is, 'My Name is Khan', where the protagonist saves the lives of his friends from floods, guided by a strong sense of humanity and moral duty, without fearing for his own life.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS 

Question. What was Sadao's father's dream for him? How did Sadao realise it? 
Answer: Sadao's father's dream for him was to give him the best education and so Sadao was sent to America to study surgery and medicine. Sadao realised his father's dream by becoming famous as a surgeon as well as a scientist.

Question. Why was Dr Sadao not sent to the battlefield?
Answer: Dr Sadao had not been sent abroad with the troops because the General was being treated by him, and he could trust no other Japanese surgeon. Secondly, Dr Sadao was about to make an important discovery that would leave wounds entirely clean.

Question. How did the writer indicate that Dr Sadao's father was a very traditional and conventional man? 
Answer: The writer has very clearly indicated that Dr Sadao's father was a very traditional and conventional man. Sadao didn't marry Hana until he knew she was Japanese because his father wouldn't have approved of her otherwise. The old man never let any foreign object even enter his room.

Question. What role did the American professor play in bringing Hana and Sadao together?
Answer: The American professor and his wife had been kind people anxious to help foreign students to settle in and so Sadao also visited his home one night. There he met Hana, a new student, by chance, which brought the two together.

Question. In what condition did Dr Sadao find the American soldier at the seashore?
Answer: When Sadao had first seen him from a distance, he thought that the man was probably a fisherman washed ashore from his boat. But on closer examination, he turned out to be a white man who was critically injured, bleeding very badly from a bullet wound. If he was not operated on, he would surely die.

Question. Why did Dr Sadao treat the American soldier even though it was an unpatriotic act on his part? 
Answer: It was Dr Sadao's moral and ethical duty as a doctor to treat the ill, wounded or injured irrespective of the person's nationality. So, he treated the wounded American soldier, even though it would seem an unpatriotic act on his part.

Question. Why did Dr Sadao seek Hana's help to treat the US soldier? 
Answer: Dr Sadao sought Hana's help to treat the US soldier because he could not operate on the American alone and the servants in the home refused to help an American life, as America was an enemy nation.

Question. Why had Hana to wash the wounded man herself? 
Answer: The wounded soldier was very dirty. He needed to be washed before any kind of treatment could be started. Hana asked her maid Yumi to wash him. Yumi said that she had never washed a white man and she wouldn't wash a dirty one like the soldier. Seeing her fierce resistance, Hana backed out and washed the soldier herself.

Question. What made a cool surgeon like Sadao speak sharply to his wife and what was her reaction? 
Answer: Hana had never seen an operation. When Sadao started operating, blood began to flow. Hana choked at this moment. Sadao sharply told her not to faint because, if he had stopped, the wounded man would surely have died. Hana clapped her hands to her mouth and ran out. Sadao heard her vomiting.

Question. What forced Dr Sadao to be impatient and irritable with his patient? 
Answer: The wounded man urgently needed an operation or he would die. Hana was with Sadao when he started operating on the prisoner. Hana, who had never seen an operation in her life, started vomiting. Sadao wanted to help her in her distress but he couldn't leave his patient. This made him impatient and irritable.

Question. How did Hana help Dr Sadao? 
Answer: Hana helped Dr Sadao carry the wounded American soldier to the house. She washed the white man's body and assisted Sadao in the operation by administering anesthetic to the patient. She even acted as a nurse for the patient after the surgery. She thus stood by and supported her husband in all his decisions without letting her own fear hinder his sense of duty.

Question. On the seventh day after the American soldier was found by Sadao, two things happened. Why did Hana feel scared of the second? 
Answer: The second event that occurred was a messenger from the General visiting their house. Hana felt scared, thinking that the servants had informed the authorities about them sheltering an enemy soldier. However, her fear was unfounded, as the messenger had only come to inform that the General was ill again and Sadao was required at his bedside immediately.

Question. Why did the messenger come to Dr Sadao? What did he think about it? 
Answer: The messenger came because the General was in pain and needed Dr Sadao. He thought that it was time he got rid of the white man, at least for his wife's sake, as she was very frightened.

Question. Why did the General not order immediate arrest of Dr Sadao, who had sheltered a white man? 
Answer: The General was being treated by Dr Sadao. He knew that Sadao was one of the best surgeons available and he could not afford to lose him. If Dr Sadao was arrested, there would be no one as skilled as him to operate upon the General in case of emergency. So, he did not order immediate arrest of Dr Sadao.

Question. How did Dr Sadao ensure that the American soldier left his house but he himself remained safe and secure? 
Answer: Dr Sadao first waited for the General's assassins to kill the American. But they never arrived. Sadao then himself arranged for a boat and helped Tom to escape. He later told the General that the prisoner had escaped. Thus, Dr Sadao ensured that the American left his house but he himself remained safe and secure.

Question. Why did the General spare the American soldier?
Answer: The General was in pain. He forgot his promise to Dr Sadao that his private assassins would take care of the American soldier i.e. murder him and remove his body. So, the General didn't actually spare his life; he, in fact, forgot about the enemy soldier.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS 

Question. Why did Sadao Hoki go to America? Narrate his experiences there. 
Answer: Sadao Hoki went to America to study surgery and medicine as it was the wish of his father. He did not have a good experience of living in America. He had faced great difficulty in finding a place to live because he was a Japanese. He perceived that Americans were full of prejudice and for him it was a bitter experience to live with them.
He strongly disliked the ignorant and dirty lady who rented him a room in her pitiable house. She even looked after him when he suffered with influenza in the last year of his studies. He tried to be grateful to her but could not, because she was repulsive even in her kindness.
However, Sadao was grateful to have good professors who taught him well. He was also grateful to that professor at whose home he met Hana and immediately liked her. Eventually, he got married to her. But he did not like the smell of their food, their small room and the wife of his professor, who was very talkative, although she tried hard to be kind.

Question. What conflicting ideas arise in Dr Sadao's mind after he has brought the wounded American soldier home? How is the conflict resolved? 
Answer: After Sadao brought the wounded American soldier home, his mind was torn by the conflict between his sense of patriotism and loyalty to his country, and his loyalty to his profession as a doctor. He was faced with a severe dilemma as to whether he should treat the white man or not. With the war going on, an American was his enemy, and it was his duty to hand him over to the authorities.
But the man was badly wounded and required immediate medical attention. Sadao had been trained not to let a man die if he could help him. It was his moral and ethical duty as a doctor to treat an ill or wounded person, irrespective of his nationality. Finally, his duty as a doctor compelled him to help the enemy, thus resolving the conflict. Sadao valued human life above everything else, and his wife Hana also supported his decision.

Question. Explain the reaction of the servants in Dr Sadao's house when he decided to give shelter to an enemy in the house. 
Answer: The Sadao household servants were simple-minded rustic people who irrationally believed that their master was sympathetic towards the Americans because of his long stay in America as a student. Yumi refused to wash Tom, who was wounded. In the same vein, the old gardener said that it was not right on the master's part to 'heal the wound' of the American sailor.
From their attitude it is clear that they are overtly patriotic, to the point of being chauvinistic and narrow-minded. Although they are loyal to their country and walk out of the Sadao household because he (Sadao) has given refuge to an enemy, they do not disclose this to the authorities. This is because they have regard for their master.
It seems that their sole motive of opposing their master's move is self-preservation. This is not an exception, as all human beings have the right to safeguard themselves.

Question. What was the General's plan to get rid of the American prisoner? Was it executed? What traits of the General's character are highlighted in the lesson 'The Enemy? 
Answer: Dr Sadao was mentally tortured by the presence of the enemy in his house. His wife too was quite distressed. Finally, he decided to inform the General about the enemy, and thus get rid of him. The General planned that his private assassins would take care of the whole matter; they would kill the enemy and even take his body away.
However, the General's plan was not executed. His assassins never arrived and Sadao, tired of the wait, helped the prisoner escape. The General was so absorbed in his own illness that he had forgotten about the whole affair. He even wanted Sadao not to inform anybody about this, lest the General be charged with lack of patriotism or negligence of duty. This shows that the General was a highly selfish man, being only concerned about his own safety and pride. He also didn't send Sadao to the battlefield where he could have saved the lives of thousands of soldiers, only because he himself needed Sadao's services.

Question. Why did Sadao help the American soldier to escape? How did he do it? 
Answer: Because Dr Sadao is a 'good' human being and a great surgeon, he could not let the man, whose life he had saved, die. On the General's suggestion, he was ready to get the prisoner assassinated, and this made him quite restless for three nights. He waited for the General's assassins to come, but when he found that the General did not send his assassins, he decided to save the American's life. This shows a positive and humanitarian part of his personality.
He arranged a boat for him so that he could first go to a nearby island. He also provided him with food and clothes. He further gave him the valuable information that he could escape using Korean fishing boats. He provided him a flashlight and made him understand that if he ran out of food or anything he could use the flashlight as he had instructed. Thus, Sadao helped the man escape.

Question. What impression do you form about Dr Sadao as a man and as a surgeon on your reading the chapter 'The Enemy? 
Answer: Dr Sadao is not only a superb surgeon but he is a superb human being as well. As we go through the chapter, we see different shades of his character. Dr Sadao was a famous surgeon and scientist. He was about to perfect a discovery which would render wounds entirely clean. The General trusted him so much with his life that he was not sent with the troops.
Dr Sadao respected his father very much. It was his father's wish that he became a surgeon and Sadao fulfilled it. He married Hana according to his father's wishes. Dr Sadao is a man full of compassion. He saved the dying enemy. A man who stuck to his decision, he didn't allow the servants to pressurise him. He did everything he could do to save the American.
He was also a patriot. He told the General about Tom without any fear. Throughout the story, he kept calling the American his enemy.

Question. Dr Sadao faced a dilemma. Should he use his surgical skills to save the life of a wounded person or hand an escaped American POW. over to the Japanese police? How did he resolve this clash of values? All India 2015 or To choose between professional loyalty and patriotism was a dilemma for Dr Sadao. How did he succeed in betraying neither? 
Answer: As a patriotic citizen of Japan, Dr Sadao was duty bound to hand over the American soldier to the Japanese police. However, Dr Sadao was a surgeon and his duty towards his profession was to save a human life if he could do so. Dr Sadao resolved this clash of values in a creative manner. He treated the American by operating on him to remove the bullet, thus fulfilling his duty towards his profession.
Simultaneously, he informed the General about the presence of the American, thus fulfilling his patriotic duty towards his country. In fact, he was reassured by the General that the American would be 'taken care of' (i.e. assassinated) very soon. However, when this assurance was not backed up by any action on the General's part, the humanitarian aspect of the situation made Dr Sadao 'help' the American to escape from Dr Sadao's home.

Question. How did Dr Sadao help the American POW to escape? What humanitarian values do you find in his act? 
Answer: Sadao arranged for a boat, provided fresh water, food, a torch etc to enable the American to survive on the sea and wait till he found a Korean ship to board. Sadao also briefed him about safety measures to be taken and to signal with the torch if he required help. He even dressed him up to look like a Japanese, covering his blond hair with a cloth. The humanitarian values we find in Sadao's act are the universal values of sympathy, humanitarian consideration, love for fellow human beings and compassion.