Chapter 4 The Enemy Solutions
Question - 1 : - 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.
Answer - 1 : -
Should he save him as a doctor or hand him over to the army as a patriot ?
Answer
I think the Japanese doctor should try his best to save the life as the dying man, whosoever he might be. A doctor’s duty is to try his best to save the life of a human being. The doctor are trained for this and they are under oath also to do so. Moreover, the Japanese doctor did not deliberately go to treat the dying man.
Rather he is found by him at his doorstep. If he hand over the man to the army, the man will must certainly die. A doctor’s conscience can never allow him to do so. So I think that the Japanese doctor should treat the dying man and if he is saved them later on he could be handed over to the army. That way he would be doing a doctor’s duty as well as the duty of a patriot.
Who was Dr. Sadao ? Where was his house ?
Answer - 2 : -
Dr. Sadao Hoki was a Japanese. He was sent to America, when he was twenty- two, to learn all that could be learned of surgery and medicine. He had come back to Japan at thirty. He became famous not only as a surgeon but as a scientist also. He was perfecting a discovery which would render wounds entirely clean. Dr. Sadao’s house was built on a spot of the Japanese coast whereas a little boy he had often played. The low, square store house was set upon rocks well above a narrow beach that was outlined with bent pines.
Question - 3 : - Will Dr. Sadao take the man in and save him ?
Answer - 3 : -
Dr. Sadao and Hana saw a man on his hand and knees crawling from the verandah of their house. Sadao thought that he was perhaps a fisherman who was washed from his boat. He ran quickly down the steps and Hana followed him. They come toward him and found him wounded. The man lay motionless with his face in the sand. An old cap stuck to his head soaked with sea water. He was in wet rags of garments. Sadao turned the man’s head and they saw the face.
Hana whispered that it was a white man. From the white man’s cap, Sadao found that he was U.S. Navy’s sailor and thus was a prisoner of war. He had escaped and that is why he was wounded in the back. Hana said that the kindest thing would be to put him back into the sea. Dr. Sadao said that if the white man would not have been wounded, he could have turned him over to the police without difficulty.
He said that he cared nothing for the white man because he was an American and all Americans were his enemies. Then Hana said to Sadao that he also couldnot throw him back to the sea. So there was only one thing to do, that is, to carry him into the house. This Dr. Sadao decided to take the man in and save him.
Question - 4 : - Will Hana help the wounded man and wash him herself ?
Answer - 4 : -
When the white man was found wounded near Dr. Sadao’s house, they carried the man towards an empty bedroom, which had been his father’s bedroom. They laid the man on the deeply matted floor. Sadao said that he had better be washed. Sadao said that he would wash him.
But Hana said that they would have to tell the servants that he was there. She said that her servant Yumi would wash him. Hana brought her servant Yumi to the room where the white man was bying. When Hana asked her to wash him, Yumi firmly said that she would have nothing to do with him. So she did not wash him. Thus reluctantly and unwillingly. Hana had to wash the white man until his upper body was quite clean.
Question - 5 : - What will Dr. Sadao and his wife do with the man ?
Answer - 5 : -
The white man was lying unconscious on the deeply matted floor of the empty room in Dr. Sadao’s house. Dr. Sadao came there with his Surgeon’s emergency bag and wearing his surgeon’s coat. Hana cried and said if he had decided to operate, Sadao simply said yes. He unfolded a sterilised towel upon the floor and put his instruments upon it. He asked Hana to fetch towels and help him to turn the wounded man.
Then he began to wash the man’s back carefully. Dr. Sadao told Hana that she would have to give the anaesthetic if he needs it. When he took out the packing the blood from the man’s wound began to flow more quickly. He found out that the bullet was still there in the wound. Dr. Sadao thought there was no reason why this man should live. But if he stopped now, the man would surely die. Sadao felt the tip of his instrument strike against something hard, dangerously near the kidney.
He took the bullet out. The man vibrated but he was still unconscious. He found his pulse so faint and so feeble. He (old Hana that no more anaesthetic was required. He dressed his wound and injected him on the. patient’s left arm. He felt the pulse that grew stronger. Thus doing his duty as a doctor, Dr: Sadao saved the life of that man, even though he considered him as his enemy.
Question - 6 : - Will Dr. Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy ?
Answer - 6 : -
Seven days, after the white American was brought to the house of Dr. Sadao, Hana saw a messenger came to the door in official uniform. She thought that the servans must have already told. But the messenger said that Sadao should come to the palace as the General was in pain again. After the messenger had gone away, Hana told Dr. Sadao that she thought they had come to arrest him. Sadao said that somehow he must get rid of the young man.
Dr. Sadao told the General about the young man. He said that he cared nothing for the man. The General said that Dr. Sadao couldn’t be arrested because he might be needed for his operation. The General told Dr. Sadao that it was very unfortunate that this man should have washed up to his doorstep.
Then the General said that it would be best if the young American was quietly killed. He said that he had his own private assassins, who would kill him tonight or any night. He told Sadao that he should leave the outer partition of the white man’s room open. Sadao said that it was left open every night. Thus Dr. Sadao was not arrested because he might have been needed for the treatment of the old General.
Question - 7 : - What will Dr. Sadao do to get rid of the man ?
Answer - 7 : -
The General had told Sadao that his private assassins would kill the young American. Dr. Sadao desperately wanted to get rid of the young American, who was an escaped prisoner of war. Dr. Sadao waited for many days, but no assassin came to his house for this purpose. So Dr. Sadao told the young American that he was so well that if he (Dr. Sadao) put his boat on the shore tonight, with food and extra clothing in it, he might be able to row to that little island not far from the coast. Sadao told him that nobody lives on that island because in storm it sinks under the surface of water. He could live there until he would see a Korean fishing boat pass by.
They used pass quite near the island. As soon as it was dark, Sadao had dragged the boat down to the shore. He put in it food and bottle water along with two quilts. He tied the boat to a post. Sadao got him dressed in Japanese clothes and wrapped a black cloth ahout his blonde head. The young man walked toward the shore. This is how he got rid of the young American boy.
Question - 8 : - 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 - 8 : -
Sometimes we come across some moments in life when we are compelled to make hard choices between our roles as private individuals and as citizens with a sense of national loyalty. For instance, in the story ‘The Enemy’ Dr. Sadao and his wife Hana saw a man on his hand and knees crawling, from the verandah of their house. Sadao thought that he was perhaps a fisherman who was washed from his boat.
They came toward the man motionless with his face in the sand. An old cap stuck to his head soaked with sea water. Sadao turned the man’s head and they saw the face. They found that he was a white man. From his cap, Sadao found that he was U.S. Navy’s sailor and thus was an American prisoner of war. It was the time of the World War and America was an enemy country. The man had escaped and that is why he was wounded in the back.
Now the problem with Dr. Sadao was what to do with the man. He hated him because he belonged to an enemy country. His national loyalty demanded that the young American should be handed over to the police. Dr. Sadao also thought of throwing the man back into the sea. Dr. Sadao was a distinguished and famous surgeon. He had a tough choice.
If he turned over the wounded man over to police as a prisoner, he’ would certainly die. As a doctor, he was trained to save a human being’s life as far as he could. Dr. Sadao cared nothing for the white man because he was an American and all Americans were his enemies. Whether he should hand over the man to the police and let him be killed or as a doctor’s duty, he should save that wounded and dying human being.
Question - 9 : - 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 definance from the domestic staff ?
Answer - 9 : -
A wounded and unconscious young American prisoner of war was found outside their house. Dr. Sadao and his wife Hana were puzzled as to what they should do with him. Firstly, they thought of throwing him back into the sea. But Hana continued to stare down at the motionless man. Their dilemma was that if they sheltered a white man in their house they would be arrested; and if they turned him over to police as a prisoner, he would certainly die.
Hana said that the kindest thing would be to put him back into the sea. But neither of them moved. They were staring with a “curious repulsion” upon the motionaless figure. Hana said to her hushand that if the man couldn’t be handed to the police because he was fatally wound nor they could throw him back to the sea, then there was only one thing to do.
They must carry him into the house. She said that they must simply tell to the servants that they intend to give him to the police, as indeed they must. Thus they had both agreed, on humanitarian ground, to take the wounded man to their home.
When her servant Yumi refused to wash the white man, Hana decided to wash the man herself, whom she considered “a wounded helpless man”. She, of course, did not do so because she had any sympathy for him. She was just helping her husband who as a doctor would not possibly let a human being die if he could help him.
Being a kind-hearted woman she thought of him as a wounded helpless human being first though he was an enemy of whom she wanted to get rid of. If at all she was sympathetic or kind-hearted, she had such feelings for him as a human being who would die if he is not treated and not as an American prisoner of war. That is why she did what she thought was right despite the open defiance from all of her servants.
Question - 10 : - 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 - 10 : -
Despite the fact that Dr. Sadao hated the young American prisoner of war, yet as a doctor’s conscience provoked him, he treated him and thus saved his life. His wife Hana washed him herself and served him herself as no servant was prepared to enter his room. The white mem was surprised to hear Hana tell him in English not to be afraid when he regained his senses. She told him that she was for a long time in America. Though Sadao and Hana hated him, yet they treated him as a human being who was wounded and helpless.
The young man also must be aware that though the servants had left the house because of him, yet the kind-hearted couple did not let him die. Though Dr. Sadao did not hide his hatred for the prisoner of war, yet as a patient he treated him with all sincerity and dedication.
Dr. Sadao had told about the prisoner of war to the old General to whom he was treating. The General told him that he would be sending private assassins to kill the young man. But after waiting for a few days, Dr. Sadao thought of a plan to get rid of the young American boy. So he told the young American that he was so well that if he (Dr. Sadao) put his boat on the shore tonight, with food and extra clothing in it, he might be able to row to that little island not far from the coast, where nobody lived.
He could live there until he would see a Korean fishing boat pass by. The young man stared at him and asked “Do I have to ?” It shows his reluctance to leave the shelter of the doctor’s home. Dr. Sadao said that he will have to leave as it is not hidden that he was there in the house. The young man must be feeling grateful for Dr. Sadao and Hana’s kind-heartedness. Moreover, he might be afraid V of the cruel treatment which he could undergo. That is why he was reluctant.