01 · Explore
Dr. Sadao Hoki: Roots and Responsibility
The story introduces Dr. Sadao Hoki, a renowned Japanese surgeon and scientist, whose life is defined by his father's strict expectations and his own professional excellence.
Sadao lived in a square stone house built upon the rocks of a narrow Japanese beach. His childhood was shaped by his father, a man who never joked or played but invested infinite pains in Sadao's education. His father viewed the nearby islands as 'stepping stones to the future,' instilling in Sadao a deep sense of destiny and national purpose.
At twenty-two, Sadao was sent to America to study surgery and medicine. He returned at thirty, having become a famous surgeon and a scientist. His expertise was so vital that he was not sent abroad with the troops; he was perfecting a discovery to render wounds entirely clean and was also kept in Japan to treat the old General's medical condition.
Sadao's personal life was equally disciplined. He met his wife, Hana, in America at a professor's house, but he waited to fall in love with her until he was certain she was 'pure in her race' to satisfy his father. Their marriage was later arranged in the traditional Japanese way, and they lived a happy, harmonious life with their two children.
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Question
Why was Dr. Sadao not sent abroad with the Japanese army during the war?
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02 · Explore
A Dilemma Washed Ashore
The peaceful life of Sadao and Hana is interrupted when a wounded man is flung from the sea onto their doorstep.
One evening, amidst a rising fog, Sadao and Hana saw a dark figure stagger out of the mists and collapse on the beach. Initially thinking it was a fisherman, they rushed down to find a white man in wet rags, unconscious and bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound in his back.
Upon examining the man's battered cap, they discovered he was a sailor from the 'U.S. Navy'—a prisoner of war who had escaped. This realization brought an immediate moral crisis: as Japanese citizens during the war, sheltering an enemy was treason, but as a doctor, Sadao could not ignore a dying man.
They hesitated, contemplating throwing him back into the sea as the 'kindest' thing to do. However, their shared humanity and Sadao's medical training made this impossible. Despite their repulsion toward the 'enemy,' they decided to carry him into the house, specifically into the unused bedroom of Sadao's late father.
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Question
What was the 'curious repulsion' Sadao and Hana felt toward the man?
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Sign inNew here? Sign up freeNCERT reference: printed pages 26, 27, 28, 29.
03 · Explore
Conflict with the Servants
The presence of the American prisoner creates a rift between the masters and their domestic staff, highlighting different levels of nationalism and superstition.
When Hana informed the servants of their plan to heal the man before handing him over to the police, they were openly hostile. The old gardener, who had served Sadao's father, believed that if the master healed what the 'gun' and the 'sea' had tried to kill, the sea would take revenge on the household.
Yumi, the nursemaid, flatly refused to wash the 'dirty' white man, showing a fierce look of resistance. This defiance frightened Hana, but it also made her angry. She realized that the servants' perspective was purely nationalistic and superstitious, whereas she and Sadao were caught in a complex web of professional duty and human compassion.
Ultimately, Hana was forced to wash the prisoner herself. The servants' coldness and their 'watchful eyes' created a tense atmosphere, as they could not understand why their master would use his skills to save an enemy life.
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Question
How did the gardener justify his belief that the man should die?
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Sign inNew here? Sign up freeNCERT reference: printed pages 30, 31, 36, 37.
04 · Explore
The Surgeon's Skill
Sadao decides to operate on the prisoner, a moment where his identity as a doctor completely supersedes his identity as a Japanese patriot.
Sadao prepared for the operation with clinical precision, using his surgeon's emergency bag and sterilized towels. He commanded Hana to assist him by giving the anesthetic, a task that made her physically ill. Despite her distress and retching in the garden, Sadao remained absorbed in his work, driven by his 'cardinal sin' theory: that ignorance of the human body is a surgeon's greatest failure.
During the surgery, Sadao's habit of talking to his patients surfaced. He called the American 'my friend,' momentarily forgetting the man was his enemy. He worked delicately near the kidney, eventually extracting the bullet with 'the cleanest and most precise of incisions.'
The operation was a success, but it left Sadao and Hana in a precarious position. The man was alive, but his presence in their home was a ticking time bomb that threatened their safety, their children's future, and Sadao's reputation.
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Question
What did Sadao's American professor mean by 'murder' in the context of surgery?
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Sign inNew here? Sign up freeNCERT reference: printed pages 32, 33, 34, 35.
05 · Explore
The General's Secret
When the old General falls ill, Sadao is forced to confess the presence of the prisoner, leading to a secret pact.
On the seventh day after the servants left, a messenger in uniform arrived. Hana feared arrest, but the messenger had only come to summon Sadao to the palace for the General's pain. At the palace, Sadao told the General about the prisoner. The General, a man of 'German ruthlessness' and 'American sentimentality,' reacted not with patriotic outrage, but with personal anxiety.
The General explained his understanding of Sadao's perspective by mentioning that he once took a degree in Princeton, a rare distinction for a Japanese man at the time. He realized that if Sadao were arrested or executed for treason, there would be no one he trusted to perform his own surgery. To protect his own life, the General promised to send his 'private assassins' to Sadao's house to quietly kill the prisoner and remove the body.
For three nights, Sadao waited in agonizing suspense. Every rustle of a branch or displacement of a stone made him think the assassins had arrived. However, each morning he found the prisoner still alive and increasingly healthy. The General, consumed by his own illness and pain, had simply forgotten his promise to send the killers.
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Question
Why did the General fail to send the assassins?
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Sign inNew here? Sign up freeNCERT reference: printed pages 38, 39, 40, 41, 42.
06 · Explore
The Escape: A Human Solution
Exhausted by the strain and realizing the assassins would not come, Sadao devises his own plan to save the prisoner and himself.
Sadao decided he could not endure another night of waiting. He gave the prisoner, whom he now knew as 'Tom,' his own sturdy boat, food, bottled water, and quilts. He instructed Tom to row to a nearby unfortified island and wait for a Korean fishing boat to pick him up.
To ensure Tom's safety, Sadao provided a flashlight and a signaling system: two flashes at sunset if food ran out, and one flash if he was still alright. He specifically warned Tom that if he caught fish for food, he must eat them raw, as a fire would be seen by the authorities. He even wrapped a black cloth around Tom's blond head to hide him in the darkness.
The plan worked. One night, there was no signal from the island, meaning Tom had escaped safely. When Sadao later told the General that the prisoner had 'escaped,' the General, fearing his own 'dereliction of duty' would be exposed because he forgot to send the assassins, promised Sadao a reward, effectively ensuring Sadao's safety as well.
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Question
How did Sadao ensure he was 'perfectly safe' after the prisoner escaped?
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07 · Explore
Themes: Humanity Beyond Borders
The story concludes with Sadao reflecting on his past in America and the nature of prejudice.
Standing on his veranda, Sadao looked out at the sea and remembered the white faces from his time in America: the dull professor, the talkative wife, and the 'slatternly' landlady who had nursed him through influenza. He recalled the bitterness of living in a country full of prejudice, where he felt superior yet was treated as an inferior.
Despite these negative memories and his genuine dislike for the 'white and repulsive' face of the prisoner, Sadao found himself unable to kill him. The story ends with his haunting question: 'I wonder why I could not kill him?'
This question underscores the central theme: the 'universal brotherhood' of medicine and the innate human resistance to killing another individual once a personal connection—even one of doctor and patient—has been established. Sadao's 'reward' was not the General's promise, but the knowledge that he had remained true to his calling as a healer.
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Question
What is the significance of the title 'The Enemy'?
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08 · Explore
Answer Writing: Character and Conflict
Understanding how to structure an analysis of Dr. Sadao's character is essential for exam preparation.
When writing about Dr. Sadao, focus on the 'dual loyalty' he experiences. He is a 'patriot' who loves his country and respects his father's legacy, but he is also a 'professional' bound by the Hippocratic Oath. His conflict is not just external (with the law and servants) but internal (his own prejudice vs. his medical instinct).
Use specific evidence from the text, such as his meticulous care during the operation or his decision to provide Tom with a flashlight and food, to support the claim that his identity as a doctor is his primary defining characteristic.
Dr. Sadao's Decision-Making Process
- 1
Medical Duty
Sadao finds a dying man and his training compels him to stanch the bleeding and operate.
- 2
National Loyalty
He recognizes the man as an enemy and considers turning him over to the police or the sea.
- 3
Moral Compromise
He shelters the man but informs the General, hoping for a 'legal' assassination.
- 4
Humanitarian Act
When the state fails to act, Sadao takes personal responsibility and helps the man escape.
The sequence of Sadao's choices shows a progression from professional instinct to a higher humanitarian resolution.
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Question
How does the author use the setting of the 'lonely coast' to enhance the story?
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Sign inNew here? Sign up freeNCERT reference: printed pages 24, 34, 44, 46.