The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck
Quick answer: The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck, CBSE Class 12 Vistas chapter 4: Dr Sadao Hoki, Hana, the wounded American prisoner, the General, the escape by boat, themes and exam answers.
A Japanese surgeon watching the sea from his house sees a man crawl out of the surf and collapse on the rocks, and finds when he turns him over that the wounded stranger is a white man, an American, and therefore the enemy.
Pearl S. Buck (1892 to 1973), the Nobel laureate raised in China, wrote this during the Second World War; chapter 4 of Class 12 Vistas.
The story in brief
Dr Sadao Hoki and his wife Hana carry the wounded man, an escaped prisoner of war, into their house; handing him over means his death. Sadao removes the bullet while Hana assists, since the servants refuse and later leave in protest. The man, Tom, recovers slowly.
Sadao confides in the old General, whose surgeon he is; the General promises private assassins, and Sadao leaves his door unlocked for three nights, but nobody comes. Sadao then gives Tom a boat, food, clothes and a flashlight and sends him to an uninhabited island to wait for a Korean fishing boat. No signal comes; the man is gone. The General admits he forgot and asks Sadao to keep quiet. Sadao wonders why he could not kill his enemy.
The people in it
The household.
Themes and meaning
Exam readings include humanity against nationalism, the conflict between duty and conscience, and prejudice in wartime. The sharper point is that Sadao is not a saint: he remembers his American landlady's bigotry, calls the man his enemy throughout, and helps him partly to be rid of him.
The craft: the body as moral test
The dilemma sits in the surgeon's hands: he cannot leave a wound untreated once he has seen it. The turn is the General's promise of assassins, which shifts the danger from discovery to complicity, and the three unlocked nights are the story's tensest scene. Writers can steal the device of a professional skill that forces a moral choice; a protagonist compelled by competence rather than virtue is what earns Character marks in the Writory Short Story Contest.
For the exam
Quick material for the Class 12 exam.
What writers can take from this
- Present Sadao's prejudice honestly; the story's power depends on his helping a man he does not like.
- Explain the General's role in two steps: the promise of assassins and the forgetting.
- Include the servants; their departure shows the social cost of the decision.
- Writers, give your protagonist a skill that makes the moral choice unavoidable.
- Build tension through waiting, as in the three unlocked nights, rather than through action.
Try it yourself
Write a story in which a professional finds an enemy in need of their exact skill and helps despite disliking them. Include one authority figure who promises to solve the problem and simply forgets, and end with the protagonist unable to explain their own decency.
Questions
What is the theme of The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck?
Humanity against nationalism and prejudice. Sadao, a Japanese surgeon, saves an American prisoner during wartime because his training and conscience will not let a wounded man die, even though he regards him as an enemy and dislikes his race.
Why did Sadao save the American prisoner?
As a surgeon he could not leave a wound untreated once he had seen it, and he feared the guilt of surrendering a helpless man to certain death. His conscience and professional discipline overrode both fear and prejudice.
How does The Enemy end?
Sadao sends the American to a nearby island with a boat, food and a flashlight to await a Korean fishing boat. The signal never comes, so the man has escaped. The General admits he forgot to send assassins, and Sadao reflects on why he could not kill his enemy.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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