-Pearl S Buck

About the Author:

Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American
writer and novelist. She is best known for “The Good Earth”, the best-selling novel
in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and which won her the “Pulitzer Prize” in
1932.
In 1938, Buck became the first American woman to win the “Nobel Prize in
Literature" for her rich and truly epic descriptions of “peasant life in China" and for
her "masterpieces", two memoir-biographies of her missionary parents.

Theme:
Nationalism
Humanity / Profession
War Situations
Lifting from petty considerations of race, nationality & act in
humanity
Prejudices (opinion that is based on reason) created by war
Ethics of Medical Profession
Conflict between duty & conscience
Characters:
Dr. Sadao Hoki: Morally conscious, patriotic, confused, determined,
doctor first, lift above any prejudice (opinion that is based on reason)
humane, careful, diligent, opportunistic, puts family first, ethical,
daring. “He had not been trained to not to let a man die if he can save
him.”
Hana: Compassionate, considerable, prudent, good wife, supportive.
General: Selfish, gullible, violent, very sick, thinks of himself.
Tom: Typical American solider, thinks that most Japanese are cruel &
not humane, escapes from the prison, was shot by the bullet, very light
like a fowl (bird), pallor (an unhealthy), was given hypodermic,
“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion as well
as the will to help others” is the best theme that describes the story
Important Points:
Dr. Sadao Hoki was a famous Japanese surgeon and scientist who had
found a medicine which would render wounds entirely clean.
He lived in a house which was built on Japanese coast. The low square
stone house was set upon rocks well above a narrow beach that was
outlined with bent pines.
Sadao father never joked or played with him but spent infinite pains
(deal of effort trying to benefit his son) upon him who was his only
son.
Sadao father’s chief concern was his education.
Sadao was sent to America at the age of 22 to learn all that could be
learned of surgery and medicine.
Before his father died Sadao has become a famous surgeon and
scientist. At the age of “30” Sadao came back from America.
Professor Harley and his wife had been kind people, anxious(concern)
even though his wife was voluble(talkative) they wanted to do
something for their few foreign students and though the student were
bored they had accepted his kindness.
Sadao met Hana at the professor Harley house and had felt he would
love her if it were at all possible.
Hana was a new student of Professor Harley.
They had not married in a haste (hurry) in America. They had finished
their work at school & had come home to Japan. When his father had
seen her their marriage had been arranged in the old Japanese way,
although Sadao & Hana had been talked everything beforehand.
Dr. Sadao was not sent to the battle field because of two reasons;
1. He had perfectly discovered a medicine which would render the
wounds entirely clean.
2. The General might have needed some operation urgently &
Sadao was the best doctor available for his need.
Dr. Sadao & his wife found an unconscious wounded war prisoner, who
was washed away by the water, who posed a huge threat to their own
safety. However, Sadao decided to stand by human ethics & operated
on him. Though half-heartedly, both took good care of the patient’s
health & other needs.
Dr. Sadao, tended (cared for) a wounded war prisoner which was a
serious crime. However, he didn’t get punished for this offence as it
was never revealed to anyone, expect for his wife, loyal & timid
servants & the General.
His expert fingers began to search for the wound. The blood flowed
freshly at his touch. On the right side of his lower back Sadao saw that
a gun wound had been reopened. The flesh was blackened with
powder. Sometime not many days ago that man had been shot. It was
bad that the rock had stuck the wound.
Sadao is wholly responsible for saving the life of Tom, an American
prisoner of war who washes up on the beach alongside Sadao and
Hana's isolated home on the Japanese coast (21 February).
To stop the bleeding, he packed the wound with sea moss that strewed
(scattered untidily over a place) the beach.
The white man (Tom) was very light like a fowl, that had been half-
starved for a long time until it is only feathers & skeleton.
If they sheltered a white man (Tom) two things would have happened;
1. Dr. Sadao should be arrested
2. If they turned him over as a prisoner, white man would
certainly die.
Dr. Sadao personality dominant trait was Expertise in his profession &
compassion as a human.
Hana had never seen an operation before so she ran outside in the
garden he heard her retching (vomiting). But her distress & his inability
to go to her at once made him impatient & irritable with this man.
Hana helped the wounded man, as he was in very bad condition &
needed to be washed before being operated on & her servant Yumi
had refused to do so, Hana did it out of compassion for another human
being.
The Two Strange things that happened on the seventh day was;
1. Servants have left their home & Hana prepared food by herself.
2. A messenger had come in official uniform, to inform that General
was ill again but Hana felt that the servants would have
informed to the authorities about the sheltering of White man.
So she was sacred on seeing the messenger.
 “To operate without complete knowledge of the body as if you had
made it- anything less than that is murder” – anatomy professor.

“Dr. Sadao had been trained not to let a man die if he can help it.”

The Blood is used as a symbol in this story, it symbolizes prejudices

(opinion that is based on reason). It represents the common
humanity shared by enemies and challenges the notions of hatred and
prejudice.

Sadao & Hana look upon their time in America with disdain
(dislike/disrespect) due to the prejudice that they were subjected to,
such behavior leads to racial prejudices which taints (contaminate) a
person’s mentality forever.

The General was in pain, so he forgot his promise to Sadao that his
private assassins would take care of the American solider i.e murder
him & remove his body. So the General didn’t actually spare his life; he
in fact forgot about the solider.

Tom pulse grew stronger when Sadao chose a small vial & from it filled
a hypodermic & thrust it into the patient’s left arm. The man will live in
spite of all he said to Hana.

Dr. Sadao first waited for the General to get the man assassinated. But
when that didn’t happen for three days, he gave the man a boat with
provisions & helped him escape to the nearby island. He instructed him
to wait for a Korean fishing boat, which would safely take him far from
there.

Character Sketch of Sadao:

Sadao Hoki was a Japanese doctor who had been educated in the United
States and was renowned for his surgical skills. Dr. Sadao is a man of great
intelligence and resourcefulness, who is torn between his loyalty to his
country and his humanistic values.
Ultimately, he chooses to follow his conscience and do what he believes is
right, even if it means going against the interests of his country. Sadao is
wholly responsible for saving the life of Tom, an American prisoner of war
who washes up on the beach alongside Sadao and Hana's isolated home on
the Japanese coast (21 February).
He risks his own life and that of his family to nurse the soldier back to health.
Despite the fact that the soldier is a threat to his country. Dr. Sadao believes
that it is his duty to save the life of a fellow human being.
He knows that if he hands over the soldier to the authorities, he will be
killed. Therefore, he takes a calculated risk and decides to smuggle the
soldier out of the country.
Character Sketch of Hana:
Hana is a compassionate, supportive, and strong-willed, hardworking
character who played a crucial role in helping Dr. Sadao Hoki make the
difficult decision to help the wounded American soldier. When Yumi, the
nurse refuses to wash Tom, she does it herself.
When the servants leave Sadao's home in protest, she does all the chores
herself. She assists Sadao in the medical operations and the anesthetics while
operating Tom.
Hana is an epitome of a loving, dedicated and caring wife. She always has
love and affection in her heart for Sadao.She loves her family. She gets
scared when a man in uniform appears at the gate. She is also a kind-hearted
woman as she wished Tom to be saved. However, she is not as courageous as
Sadao.
Character Sketch of Tom:
Tom is a teenaged American prisoner of war who was captured and tortured
by the Japanese but somehow escaped. He washes up on the beach near Dr.
Sadao Hoki and Hana's isolated house on 21 February, and they discern that
he's a prisoner of war, from his recent bullet wound (reopened by one of the
rocks out at sea), his blonde hair, and his U.S. navy cap. He was very light like
a cock.
Even though Tom is unconscious or sleeping for much of his time, his mere
presence forces them to grapple with their conflicting impulses to help a
fellow human or to be loyal to one's country.
When he is conscious, Tom is scared of Sadao but also deeply grateful to the
surgeon for saving his life-praises him which Sadao coldly shrugs off.
When the assassins fall to show up night after night. Sadao decides to take
matters into his own hands by helping Tom escape by boat to a nearby
island, where he's bound to be saved by a Korean fishing boat. The plan
works, and Sadao is ultimately baffled as to why he couldn't just kill Tom,
given that Americans are his enemies and he hates all white people.
In the story. Tom is the catalyst for human kindness. forcing Sadao and Hana
to consider the universality of humankind and the inherent human impulse
to be kind.

The General:

The General is Japan’s Army General. He is Dr Sadao’s patient. He was old

and ailing and had faith only in Dr Sadao for treatment. That is one of the
reasons that Dr Sadao was not sent abroad with the Japanese army.

The General himself was educated at Princeton and had more faith in the
doctor trained in America than in Germany as according to him Americans
had sentiments but Germans were cruel.

He assured Dr Sadao of help in getting rid of the American soldier but due to
his self-absorption in his ailment, he forgot. When Dr Sadao told him about
the escape of the white man, he took the blame on himself and saved Dr
Sadao.

The General knew the worth of Dr Sadao as a surgeon and as a scientist

didn’t want to lose him so protected him till the end.

Sadao’s Recollection of Americans recalled other white faces:

1. professor at whose house he met Hana.

2. his teacher of anatomy.
3. his fat landlady. Recalled how difficult it was to find a place to live in as
Americans were prejudiced-had been difficult to live amidst such
feelings. As a Japanese, he felt he was superior. Hated the ignorant,
dirty woman who rented him a room and looked after him when he
was sick. He despised her and could not feel grateful to her. He felt he
found all white faces, disgusting and wondered why he could not kill
the prisoner.
Humanitarian considerations override man-made barriers of culture and
nationality.

Extracts:

1) In the story 'The Enemy', what is the main dilemma that Hana and Sadao
face?

a. to abandon the American as a patriot or save him as a humanist

b. to keep their servants or to dismiss them for their offensive behavior

c. to hand over the American to the Japanese military or the American army

d. to retain their American learnings or to remain loyal to their Japanese

values

Ans. Option (a)

Q. No. 2) Multiple Choice Questions based on an extract.

The man moaned with pain in his stupor but he did not awaken.

“The best thing that we could do would be to put him back in the sea,” Sadao
said, answering himself. Now that the bleeding was stopped for the moment
he stood up and dusted the sand from his hands.

“Yes, undoubtedly that would be best,” Hana said steadily. But she continued
to stare down at the motionless man.

“If we sheltered a white man in our house we should be arrested and if we

turned him over as a prisoner, he would certainly die,” Sadao said.

“The kindest thing would be to put him back into the sea,” Hana said. But
neither of them moved. They were staring with curious repulsion upon the
inert figure.

i. In which of the following options can the underlined words NOT be

replaced with ‘stupor’?
a. She hung up the phone feeling as though she had woken up from a
slumber.

b. The manager complained about the employee’s sluggishness.

c. He seemed to be in a trance when the doctor called upon him last week.

d. Seeing him in a daze, the lawyer decided not to place him in the witness
box.

Ans. Option (b)

ii. Pick the option that best describes Sadao and Hana in the passage.

a. Sadao: scrupulous, Hana: wary

b. Sadao: daring, Hana: prudent

c. Sadao: prudent, Hana: suspicious

d. Sadao: wary, Hana: daring

Ans. Option (c)

iii. Pick the idiom that best describes the situation in which Sadao and Hana
were in.

a. to be like a fish out of water

b. like water off a duck’s back

c. to be dead in the water

d. to be in hot water

Ans. Option (d)

iv. Choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given
below.

 Statement 1: Sadao and Hana cared about the soldier but were worried
about the consequences of being considerate.
 Statement 2: Sadao and Hana wanted to shirk their responsibilities of
looking after an injured soldier, who could be an American.
a. Statement 1 is true but Statement 2 is false.

b. Statement 1 is false but Statement 2 is true.

c. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 are true.

d. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 are false.

Ans. Option (a)

Q. No. 3) “Those scars,” she murmured, lifting her eyes to Sadao. The ‘scars’
DO NOT indicate

a. torture perpetrated on prisoners of war.

b. superiority of Japan over America.

c. the quest for supremacy in war.

d. the rumors of torture are often heard.

Ans. Option (b)

Q. No. 4) ‘She did not wish to be left alone with the white man.’ Why did
Hana feel so, despite having studied in America?

This was so because

a. being Japanese, it wasn’t appropriate to stay on with a stranger.

b. America and Japan were not allies in the ongoing World War.

c. He was someone she’d recognized from her past in America.

d. her husband had cautioned her against the American.

Ans. Option (b)

Q. No. 5) Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

She had the bottle and some cotton in her hand.

"But how shall I do it?" she asked.

"Simply saturate the cotton and hold it near his nostrils," Sadao replied
without delaying for one moment the intricate detail of his work. "When he
breathes badly move it away a little." She crouched close to the sleeping face
of the young American. It was a piteously thin face, she thought, and the lips
were twisted. The man was suffering whether he knew it or not. Watching
him, she wondered if the stories they heard sometimes of the sufferings of
prisoners were true. They came like flickers of rumor, told by word of mouth
and always contradicted. In the newspapers, the reports were always that
wherever the Japanese armies went the people received them gladly, with
cries of joy at their liberation.

i. In the given extract, Hana experiences a bit of __________ for the young
American.

a. compassion

b. contempt

c. hope

d. rage

Ans. Option (a)

ii. Which of these questions does Hana start reflecting on in the extract?

a. Why did men like the young American choose to fight?

b. What should she and her husband do about the enemy?

c. Is the Japanese army actually emerging victorious or is it all fake news?

d. How different was the reality of prisoners from what she was led to
believe?

Ans. Option (d)

iii. What changes Hana's perception of the young American?

a. reading stories about the 'enemy' as a prisoner of war

b. seeing the 'enemy' as an actual person in front of her

c. wondering if she herself is more American than Japanese

d. realizing that the war against America is not an honorable one

Ans. Option (b)

iv. How do Hana and Sadao react to the situation of the wounded man?

a. Hana is confused about it but Sadao is confident about it.

b. Hana is suspicious about it but Sadao is accepting of it.

c. Hana is disturbed by it and Sadao is disappointed by it.

d. Hana is disgusted by it and Sadao is conflicted about it.

Ans. Option (a)

v. Select the sentence that has the same literary device as the underlined
phrase in the line below.

They came like flickers of rumor, told by word of mouth and always
contradicted.

a. The trees danced to the rhythm of the stormy winds.

b. Her smile was as bright as the sun when he returned home.

c. We need to cut corners if we want to finish the work on time.

d. I am so hungry right now that I could eat a thousand burgers.

Ans. Option (c)

Q. No. 6) Sadao’s servants leave his house, but none of them betrays the
secret of the American P.O.W. Select the option that explains this.

a. The servants truly believed that they must not be a part of the household
which sheltered a prisoner of war, but their love and loyalty to Sadao made
them keep the secret safe.

b. The servants knew that any information about the P.O.W. would result in
punishment for them and their families which is why they revealed nothing.
c. The servants were superstitious and scared of a white man on the premises
and consequently, chose to remove themselves and stay silent about the
situation.

d. The servants did not want to incur the wrath of Dr. Sadao and lose their
jobs, therefore they chose to exit instead, and return later.

Ans. Option (a)

Q. No. 7) Dr. Sadao mutters the word ‘my friend’ while treating the American
P.O.W. in the light of the circumstances, we can say that this was

a. humourous.

b. climactic.

c. ironical.

d. ominous.

Ans. Option (c)

Q. No. 8) “I wondered, Your Excellency,” Sadao murmured.

“It was certainly very careless of me,” the General said. “But you understand
it was not lack of patriotism or dereliction of duty.” He looked anxiously at
his doctor. “If the matter should come out you would understand that,
wouldn’t you?”

“Certainly, Your Excellency,” Sadao said. He suddenly comprehended that the

General was in the palm of his hand and that as a consequence he himself
was perfectly safe. “I swear to your loyalty. Excellency,” he said to the old
General, “and to your zeal against the enemy.”

i. Pick the option that best describes the word ‘dereliction’ as used in the
passage.

1. evasion
2. deterioration
3. negligence
4. carelessness
5. dilapidation
6. management
a. 2, 3 and 6

b. 1, 4 and 5

c. 2, 4 and 6

d. 1, 3 and 4

Ans. Option (d)

ii. At the end of the conversation with the General, Sadao felt

a. rejuvenated and guilt-free.

b. conceited and egotistic.

c. refreshed and self-conscious.

d. relieved and guilt-free.

Ans. Option (d)

iii. Read the analysis of the General based on the given extract. Choose the
option that fills in the given blanks most appropriately:

The General (i) _____________ power but is (ii) ___________ of the

obligations of his job. He is so (iii) _____________ with his health that he
forgets to send the assassins to kill the prisoner. Due to his (iv) ____________
interests, he doesn’t want to expose Sadao and agrees to keep the prisoner’s
escape a secret.

a. (i) fantasizes; (ii) lonely; (iii) consumed; (iv) vested

b. (i) relishes; (ii) weary; (iii) self-absorbed; (iv) selfish

c. (i) fancies; (ii) apathetic; (iii) negligent; (iv) worthless

d. (i) desires; (ii) concerned; (iii) indisposed; (iv) narrow

Ans. Option (b)

iv. Pick the option that best matches the idioms with ‘hand’ with their
meanings.
Idioms Meanings
A) in the care of somebody good and
1. hand in glove
knowledgeable
2. in good hands B) to reveal a secret about one’s plans
C) do harm to someone who has been kind to
3. tip one’s hand
you
4. bite the hand that feeds
D) two or more people who are in collusion
you

a. 1-A; 2-D; 3-C; 4-B

b. 1-B; 2-C; 3-D; 4-A

c. 1-D; 2-A; 3-B; 4-C

d. 1-C; 2-A; 3-D; 4-B

Ans. Option (c)

Q. No. 9) Pick the quote that best describes the theme of the story.

a. World belongs to humanity, not this leader, that leader, or that king or
prince or religious leader. The world belongs to humanity.

b. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops
of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

c. The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will
to help others.

d. To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.

Ans. Option (c)

LITERARY DEVICES:
Simile: who lay like dead under his knife, very light like a fowl.
Irony: Since his death it (fathers bedroom) has not been used / It was his
habit to murmur to the patient when he forgot himself in an operation. “My
Friend”/ But certainly I do not want this man to live” /
Alliteration: Fingers fluttered