The Enemy questions and answers: Ncert Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 4 The Enemy
| Textbook | Ncert |
| Class | Class 12 |
| Subject | English |
| Chapter | Chapter 4 |
| Chapter Name | The Enemy ncert solutions |
| Category | Ncert Solutions |
| Medium | English |
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The Enemy Read and Find Out question answer
Question 1: Who was Dr Sadao? Where was his house?
Answer 1: Dr. Sadao Hoki was an eminent Japanese surgeon and scientist who had spent eight years in America studying surgery and medicine. He was working on a discovery to make wounds completely clean. Dr. Sadao’s house was situated on rocks, high above a narrow beach lined with bent pines, on a spot along the Japanese coast.
Question 2: Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?
Answer 2: Dr Sadao knew that they would be arrested if they sheltered a white man in their house. The wounded man was a prisoner of war who had escaped with a bullet on his back. Since Japan was at war with America, harbouring an enemy meant being a traitor to Japan. Dr Sadao could be arrested if anyone complained against him and accused him of harbouring an enemy.
Question 3: Will Hana help the wounded man and wash him herself?
Answer 3: Yes, Hana will help the wounded man and wash him herself. The wounded American was in a very bad state and needed to be washed before being operated on. When Yumi, the servant, refuses to clean the unconscious prisoner despite master’s order, Hana has no choice but to take up the task herself. Although her decision to wash him stems partly from a sense of superiority over Yumi, Hana performs the task sincerely, showing her commitment to aiding the wounded man.
Question 4: What will Dr Sadao and his wife do with the man?
Answer 4: Dr. Sadao and his wife, Hana, decided to help the wounded man despite the risks. Although they told the servants their intention was to revive him and turn him in as a prisoner, they did not do so. Dr. Sadao brought the man into their house, operated on him to remove the bullet, and nursed him back to health. They cared for him and fed him until he regained enough strength to walk. Although they knew that they would have to hand him over to the army sooner or later, they did their best to help the injured man.
Question 5: Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?
Answer 5: Dr Sadao knew that they would be arrested if they sheltered a white man in their house. The wounded man was a prisoner of war who had escaped with a bullet on his back. Since Japan was at war with America, harbouring an enemy meant being a traitor to Japan. Dr Sadao could be arrested if anyone complained against him and accused him of harbouring an enemy.
Question 6: What will Dr Sadao do to get rid of the man?
Answer 6: Dr. Sadao devised a plan to get rid of the white man in a way that would ensure his safety while also protecting his own family. Initially, he relied on the General’s promise to send assassins to eliminate the man, leaving the outer partition of the man’s room open and waiting anxiously for three nights. However, when nothing happened, Dr. Sadao decided to take matters into his own hands.
Dr Sadao then planned another way to get rid of him which was overpowered with sympathy and a distant gratitude towards the people he had been linked to in America. He decided to save his patient one more time. He secretly sent him to an isolated island with food, bottled water, clothes, blanket and his own flashlight on a boat from where he boarded a Korean ship to freedom and safety.
The Enemy Reading with Insight question answer
Question 1: 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 1: The story highlights the moral conflict between private roles and national loyalty through the character of Dr. Sadao Hoki. When he discovers an injured American soldier—a prisoner of war—washed ashore near his home, he faces a difficult decision. As a private individual, his instinct as a skilled surgeon compels him to save the man’s life, despite the soldier being an enemy. Conversely, as a loyal Japanese citizen during wartime, helping an enemy soldier could be seen as treasonous and put his family in danger.
Initially, Dr. Sadao and his wife Hana consider abandoning the man to the sea, as aiding him could lead to arrest or worse. Yet, Dr. Sadao’s professional ethics as a doctor ultimately override his national loyalty. He recognizes that turning the man over to the authorities would result in his death. Despite the risk, they bring the man into their home to treat his injuries, grappling with the judgment of their servants and the possibility of jeopardizing their children’s safety.
This dilemma underscores the tension between duty to one’s country and one’s humanity. Dr. Sadao’s decision reflects the complex nature of moral choices, where loyalty to ethical principles and compassion outweigh rigid adherence to nationalistic duty. Through his actions, the story conveys the idea that our shared humanity often transcends national boundaries, even in times of war.
Question 2: 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 2: When Sadao and Hana saw the prisoner of war, they were confronted with a dilemma, but the doctor in Sadao knew he had to save him. Hana, too, knew that if they left the American there, he would certainly die. She could not put him back in the sea. In the bedroom, Hana covered him with a flowered silk quilt and also washed him when Yumi refused. She also helped Sadao operate on the American. She was afraid lest the servants report them, yet she had the courage to assist her husband in saving the American’s life. When the soldier regained consciousness, he was terrified, but Hana reassured him.
Hana’s pride and self-respect held her back even when her servants deserted her. The servants felt, that their master’s stay in America had tempered his attitude towards the Americans. Though Hana comes across as patriotic, advising her husband to give up the prisoner, her sympathy and humanity towards the wounded ‘enemy’ raises her beyond petty parochialism.
Question 3: 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 3: The story says that the white man named Tom was very young, nearly seventeen years old, and he was admitted into the army. When the American war prisoner became conscious and understood that he had been rescued by a Japanese family, he worried that he would soon be handed over to their army.
When he walked inside the doctor’s home, the treatment he got from them made him feel affectionate towards them. He knew that although he was a threat to Dr Sadao’s family, his life might be saved there. Overwhelmed with thankfulness towards them, he finally decided to comply with what the doctor planned for him to escape.
Question 4: 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 4: The whole scenario shows that the general was in self absorption and also he was a patient of Dr. Sadao and he thought that the Dr. Sadao was executed for treachery. He promised Dr. Sadao that he will send his assassins and kill the enemy in his sleep but he forgot to send his assassins. And it was not at all a human consideration.
Question 5: While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable, especially during wartime, what makes a human being rise above narrow prejudices?
Answer 5: News of war is fast becoming a way of life. The moment one picks up a newspaper, one is bombarded with news of wars between different countries, directly or indirectly. It is obvious that the countries at war are enemies and hatred is a part of this enmity. However the success of humanity comes when we rise above this enmity and show our love towards the civilization as a whole.
Dr Sadao did the same. He did whatever he could to save the life of a man whom he knew was a war prisoner. The instant he saw the injured man, he was filled with concern. Ignoring the fact that he was the enemy of his country and must have killed so many Japanese and may kill even more, if alive, he saved him.
Question 6: Do you think the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the circumstances?
Answer 6: The doctor tried his best to save the injured soldier as a part of his duty. But the ultimate question was what to do next. It cannot be said that he betrayed his country as he told the truth to the General. However when he noticed that the soldier was to be killed not for the benefit of the country but only to save the doctor’s life, he decided to help him flee. In such a situation, the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one.
Question 7: Does the story remind you of ‘Birth’ by A. J. Croninthat you read in Snapshots last year? What are the similarities?
Answer 7: Yes, the story reminds me of “Birth” by A.J. Cronin. There are many striking similarities between Birth and The Enemy. Both stories show the gentle character of the doctors towards their patients, irrespective of other circumstances. “Birth” describes the very practical nature of the doctor when Morgan calls him for his child. In “The Enemy”, the doctor helps the white man because of his injury, although he is his enemy. “Birth” shows the patient nature of a doctor.
Though the baby is lifeless at birth, the doctor continues to hope to save it. And in “The Enemy”, the doctor takes care of white sailors for many days till the white man securely goes through the boat. In both stories, the doctors treat their patients with devotion towards their job, whatever the situation. For Dr Sadao, the risk was to let the white man stay, and for that, they could get arrested, while Dr Andrew risked giving a new life to the ‘stillborn’ baby. Consequently, both stories deal with humanity’s love, affection, selflessness, and a strong sense of duty.
Question 8: Is there any film you have seen or novel you have read with a similar theme?
Answer 8: Yes, the novel The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck explores the conflict between national loyalty and personal ethics, which is similar to the themes in Schindler’s List, the film directed by Steven Spielberg.
In both works, the main characters are faced with difficult moral choices during times of war, where their sense of duty to their country conflicts with their personal values and compassion for others, especially those considered “enemies.” Both works highlight the moral complexity of helping those who are perceived as the enemy, emphasizing the importance of humanity over national loyalty.