The Enemy

Table of contents
• Themes of the lesson
• Characters
• Introduction
• Setting
• Gist of the lesson
Themes
• Nationalism
• Universal Humanity
• Medical Ethics and Duty
Nationalism
• Sadao and Hana, as well as the other Japanese characters in the text, evince a high degree
of nationalism (as does Tom, but he is a much less developed character). They are proud of
their country, desirous of winning the war, committed to their cause, and disdainful of
Americans. The servants are highly nationalistic and cannot fathom other considerations,
such as the ethics of medicine, coming into play, whereas Sadao and Hana have cracks in
their nationalistic facade because they feel a sense of compassion for the American boy that
supersedes their perception of him as their enemy. Buck is condemnatory of nationalism
when it completely obfuscates one's understanding of another's humanity; she also does not
see it as something just the Japanese have, nor as something just the Germans have: all
countries, including the United States, have a nationalistic, "the-other-is-the-enemy"
mindsets.
Universal Humanity
• Sadao and Hana might be devoted to their country and lacking in any real
affection for Americans, who seem to have been consistently racist in their
treatment of the Japanese living and studying among them (though they are not
mentioned in this story at all, the Japanese internment camps come to mind), but
they are still endowed with a higher level of compassion and ethics, and they
know that their decision to save Tom's life even though he is their enemy is the
right one, difficult though it may be. They can transcend nationalism to an
understanding of universal humanity—not because they are saints, but because
they are thoughtful and brave.Universal
Medical Ethics and Duty
• Sadao seems to be a doctor before he is a Japanese citizen, a husband, an
employee, or someone at war. He knows the Hippocratic oath that says
he has a duty to save a life, to put health before harm, and to see beyond
borders, skin color, and the exigencies of politics, conflict, and war. He
acts instinctively and intuitively, caring only about the viscera, the bullet,
and the body—he isn't deterred by the fact that the boy he is working on
is "supposed" to be his enemy. He is a consummate professional, his
desire to save lives and heal permeating every fiber of his being.
Characters
• Dr. Sadao Hoki
• Dr. Sadao's Father
• Hana
• Tom (American WOP)
• The Old General
• An Officer
• Yumi
• The Gardener
• The cook
Dr. Sadao
• The doctor is a skilled surgeon and scientist, happily married to Hana, father to
two children, and a loyal Japanese citizen. He does not fight in the war because
his medical services are needed for the General, so he is home when a wounded
American prisoner of war shows up on the beach near his home. Though his first
inclination is to let the man die, not wanting to offer aid and comfort to the
enemy nor to be punished, his training takes over and he successfully operates on
the young man, saving his life. While he does not waver in his ambivalence
toward the man, constantly wondering why he acts as he does, he remains
committed to his profession's expectations and ethics.
Dr. Sadao's Father
• Though he is not alive during the events of the story, Sadao
thinks of his father often. The man was elegant, exacting,
and stern, and he wanted his son to be successful. He also
was very nationalistic, only wanting his son to marry a
Japanese woman and requesting for everything in his room
to be Japanese in style and make.
Hana
• Hana is an intelligent, steadfast woman, wife to Sadao, and
mother to their two children. She spent time in America as
well, which is where she met Sadao. She is pure-blooded
Japanese, which Sadao wanted in a wife. She has a moral
compass like Sadao's, meaning she ultimately knows it is
best to treat the enemy even though she does not have to like
him or help him beyond measure.
Tom
• Tom is the "man," the "boy," the "American," and the
"prisoner," among other things. He is an escaped
prisoner of war, found on the beach with a gunshot
wound worsened by the rocks of the sea that he tried
to navigate in his escape. Sadao finds him "common"
in appearance, and he is probably about 17-20 years
old. Upon his waking, he thanks the doctor but
expresses casual racism in his remarks, using the slur
"Jap" and evincing a simplistic worldview about the
war. He is grateful for Sadao saving his life more than
once, though, and follows the doctor's directions about
how to escape.
The General Takima
• The General is an older military official whom Sadao
is treating for a serious disease. The General is weary
of the obligations of his job but relishes his power. He
needs Sadao to treat him and keep him alive, so he is
not angry when Sadao confesses that he has the
American prisoner with him. He promises to send
assassins to take care of the matter but forgets to do so,
as he is consumed with his illness. When Sadao
confesses tells him the prisoner escaped, the General
agrees to keep his secret because exposing Sadao
would result in the only physician he trusts to keep
him alive being punished.
Yumi
• Yumi is the children's nurse. She loves them and
seems like a good servant, but she is simple-minded
and stubborn. She is opposed to the American's
presence in the home and quits with the other
servants, though she returns once the American is
gone.
Gardener
• The old gardener, who is also a servant, is very
opposed to the American's presence and thinks
Sadao and Hana should have let him die. He quits
with the rest of the servants, but he returns once the
American is gone.
Minor characters
• An Officer: a messenger • A Cook: an old cook in
of the General. the house of Dr.An
Sadao.
• Opening of the story • Setting
• The story opens with a • The story takes place on
flashback from Sadao’s a coastal town of Japan
childhood, which in the year 1941 when
immediately establishes Japan attacked Pearl
his father’s Japanese Harbor. A war going on
patriotism and belief in between America and
Japan’s capacity for Japan. Japanese were
greatness. Sadao’s hostile to the
father also initially Americans and ready to
appears to be a warm, kill any American found
encouraging father in their soil.
figure, which the story
will soon complicate.
Gist of the lesson
• A Gentle Doctor
• Something in the Mist
• Patient Comes First
• The Servant Revolt
• The Healing Patient
• Spare or Kill: The Difficult Decision!
A Gentle Doctor
• Dr. Sadao Hoki lived on the Japanese coast, where he had
spent his entire childhood. Sadao’s father was concerned
about his education. His father had sent him to America to
learn medical science.
• He went to America at twenty-two and returned at the age of
thirty. His father saw him as a famous scientist. Sadao was
being kept in Japan as an old general was having a medical
condition that he would examine.
Something in the Mist
• Sadao watched the mists carefully and then went to his wife Hana and his two
children. Sadao met Hana in America, and she was also Japanese. They had met
at a professor’s house in America.
• Suddenly, they saw a black shadow creeping from the mists. They both were
terrified, and it was a man who fell and lay on his face. He was a white man,
severely wounded. After examining him, Sadao realized that this white man had
a gun injury. Sadao covered the wound with moss.
• Sadao and Hana were in a dilemma to either hand the man over to the authorities
or let him die in the sea. After a brief discussion, they decided to take him home.
They took him to Sadao’s father’s room. The man was motionless, and Sadao
wanted to operate upon him to save his life.
Patient Comes First
• They told their servants about the white man, and they all were
scared. They refuted Sadao’s plan to heal the white man. Yumi,
the servant, was very reluctant to wash the white man. There
was a look of resistance on her face, but she had to do this task.
• After Yumi left the room, Hana washed the white man’s face
with a warm soaked towel. Soon, Sadao showed up, and Hana
found out that he had decided to operate upon that white man.
Sadao worked while Hana helped him silently.
• While doing so, they ruined their mat with bloodstains. Hana
gave anaesthetic to the white man. Sadao, in a delicate way,
removed the bullet from that man’s body. The bullet had nearly
damaged his kidney, but since Sadao had removed it, he was
now in a safe zone.
The Servant Revolt
• Sadao gave the white man a vial of medicine from his
kit, and his pulse grew more robust. The white man was
terrified after known where he was. When he talked to
Hana for the first time, he was surprised to see that she
spoke English. Sadao did not like the man but still took
care of him.
• The white man became better, but Sadao did not talk to
him in a friendly way. Sadao and Hana realized that their
servants did not like that they had a white man in their
workplace. The servants talked to each other about how
their master had forgotten the Japanese values. The
white man’s name was Tom.
The Healing Patient
• For the next few days, Tom was healing day by day.
Sadao decided to write a letter to the chief of
police. The next day, all the servants left together.
Hana asked Sadao if what they were doing was
right, but he did not answer.
• One day, a man in uniform visited their house, and
Hana was terrified as she thought that the servants
had told the general about their crime, but later
she came to know that it was a summon for Sadao
as the old general was in pain.
Spare or Kill: The Difficult
Decision!
• Sadao told everything to the old general, and he said Sadao
to kill the white man quietly. He offered his assassins to kill
the white man. They both agreed. Sadao went home thinking
about his plan. As Sadao went to see the white man, he saw
that Tom was preparing to go to the garden.
• They both talked in a rather friendly way. Tom told Sadao that
if all the Japanese were like him, there would be no war.
Hana asked him what to do with Tom, but Sadao asked for
two or three more days to decide.
• Sadao felt that the assassins would kill Tom. He waited for
two days, and nothing happened, but on the third day, he
was confident that the killers would finally kill Tom. But,
nothing happened.
• Tom woke up and asked for a razor blade to shave
his beard on the third day. Sadao told Tom about an
island that he could possibly go to hide from the
Japanese military. Sadao made all the arrangements
for his escape.
• A boat, a lot of food, extra clothing, and a flashlight.
Sadao told him about signals from the flashlight,
once if he was alright and two if he had no food, but
he must do it when the sun touched the horizon.
• As Tom left, the servants returned. Sadao told the
general about the prisoner’s escape, and he
admitted that he forgot his promise of killing the
white man. Tom was gone, and Sadao wondered
why he could not kill him.
Other white faces coming out of
mists
• As Sadao looks out at the sea, he thinks about all of the other white
people he’s known over his lifetime. There was the “dull” professor and
his “silly talkative” wife who had hosted the foreign students at their
home (the night Sadao met Hana), as well as his anatomy professor, who
had been emphatic about “mercy with the knife.”
• Of course, there was also the “fat and slatternly landlady.” It had been a
struggle for Sadao to find housing in America, and this “ignorant and
dirty old woman” was the only one who would accept a Japanese tenant
in her “miserable home,” though she had been hesitant at first. Sadao
thinks about how “Americans were full of prejudice and it had been
bitter to live in it, knowing himself their superior.” He also thinks about
the time that he caught the flu, and his landlady nursed him back to
health—but “she was no less repulsive to him in her kindness.”
• Sadao then thinks about Tom’s “white and repulsive” face and wonders
why he couldn’t kill him.