Character Sketch of Dr Sadao Hoki, Hana, Yumi, American Soldier, Japanese General | The Enemy

by | Jun 20, 2023 | General | 0 comments

 

Character Sketch of Dr Sadao Hoki, Hanna, Yumi, American Soldier, Japanese General The Enemy

 

Character Sketch of Dr Sadao Hoki, Hana, Yumi, American Soldier, Japanese General from Class 12 English Vistas Book Chapter 4 The Enemy

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Character Sketch of Dr Sadao Hoki

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. 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.

The Enemy Overview – The short tale “The Enemy” by Pearl S. Buck tackles the subject of prejudice and its damaging impact on interpersonal relationships. The plot centres on the connection between a Chinese doctor and an American soldier, who are originally strangers, amid a period of American war on Japan during the second world war. Despite their difference in nationality, the Japanese has to remain loyal to his profession and thus, saves the life of the injured enemy soldier. However, this does not go well with his fellow men who consider him not to be loyal towards his country. The narrative shows us how the Japanese doctor, Sadao balances these two duties and emphasizes on the importance of humanity over everything else.
 
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Some Questions on Character Sketch of Dr Sadao Hoki

Q1. Who is Dr. Sadao Hoki?
Q2. What are some of Dr. Sadao Hoki’s personality traits?
Q3. How does Dr. Sadao Hoki’s relationship with the American prisoner of war reflect his character?
Q4. How does Dr. Sadao Hoki’s character change over the course of the story?
Q5. Comment on the ethics of a doctor as you come across the characters of Sam and Sadao Hoki.
 
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Character Sketch of Hana

Hana is the wife of Dr. Sadao Hoki, the protagonist of the story “The Enemy” by Pearl S. Buck. She is a skilled nurse and a supportive partner to her husband. Here are some of her key characteristics:

Supportive: Hana is a supportive wife who stands by her husband, Dr. Sadao Hoki, in his decision to help the American prisoner of war, even though it puts their lives at risk. She provides emotional support to him and helps him navigate the moral dilemma he faces.

Skilled Nurse: Hana is a skilled nurse who assists her husband in his medical practice. She is knowledgeable about medicine and helps Dr. Hoki in treating the wounded enemy soldier.

Compassionate: Like her husband, Hana is a compassionate person who feels empathy for the suffering of others, regardless of their nationality. She agrees to help the wounded American soldier because she believes it is the right thing to do.

Conflicted: Hana is also conflicted about her husband’s decision to help the enemy soldier, knowing that it puts them both at risk. She struggles to reconcile her loyalty to her country with her moral duty to help the wounded soldier.

Strong-willed: Hana is a strong-willed character who is not afraid to speak her mind. She voices her opinion to her husband about his decision to help the enemy soldier and supports him even when he faces opposition from his staff.

Overall, Hana is a compassionate, supportive, and strong-willed character who plays a crucial role in helping Dr. Sadao Hoki make the difficult decision to help the wounded American soldier.

Hana is an epitome of a loving, dedicated and caring wife. She always has love and affection in her heart for Sadao. In spite of being married for so many years, she is still the same loving wife. She assists Sadao in the medical operations and the anesthetics while operating Tom. She loves her family. She gets scared when a man in uniform appears at the gate. She is also a good-hearted woman as she also wished Tom to be saved. She is quite hardworking. 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. However, she is not as courageous as Sadao.
 
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Some Questions on Character Sketch of Hana

Q1. Who is Hana in “The Enemy”?
Q2. What is Hana’s personality like in “The Enemy”?
Q3. How does Hana’s attitude towards the enemy soldier change over time?
Q4. How does Hana’s treatment of the enemy soldier reflect her character?
Q5. What role does Hana play in “The Enemy”?
 
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Character Sketch of Yumi

Yumi was the caretaker of Sadao and Hana’s children. She largely tends to the children and is seen with them far more than Hana herself is. She is one of the servants at Dr. Sadao Hoki and Hana’s house. She was quite a patriotic woman. Like the gardener, she is openly prejudiced against Tom and speaks critically of Sadao and Hana for saving a white man. She is so frightened by Sadao and Hana’s lawbreaking and shocking empathy for the enemy that she stubbornly refuses to follow orders, refuses to wash Tom and eventually leaves the household altogether with the gardener and the cook. When Sadao did not hand over the POW to the police in spite of the servants’ protests, she also decided to leave Sadao’s house.  She took this decision quite unwillingly. She was quite attached to the kids. Her tear-soaked departure comes as an emotional blow for her (who is in charge of the servants) and for Yumi herself, because Yumi cares for the two children as if they are her own. She is distraught at the thought of what would happen to the children if their father was found out as a “traitor.” However, when POW went away, she along with the other servants rejoined their duties at Sadao’s house. However, Yumi insists on burning Sulphur in the guest room, where Tom had been staying, “to get the white man’s smell out of it.”
 
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Some Questions on Character Sketch of Yumi

Q1. What is Yumi’s personality like in “The Enemy”?
Q2. How does Yumi feel about Dr. Sadao’s decision to help the enemy soldier?
Q3. What role does Yumi play in the story?
Q4. What does Yumi’s character reveal about Japanese society during World War II?
 
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Character Sketch of American Soldier 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, 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. 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. After saving Tom’s life through surgery, Sadao knows that he can’t allow the American to stay, but nor can he turn the American over to the authorities—the boy will surely die a torturous death. Sadao arranges for the General, an influential patient of his, to have a few assassins come to Sadao’s house in the middle of the night to silently kill Tom and do away with his body. When the assassins fail 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.
 
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Some Questions on Character Sketch of American Soldier

Q1. Who is Tom and what is his role in the story “The Enemy”?
Q2. How is Tom’s personality portrayed in the story “The Enemy”?
Q3. How does Tom’s perspective on the war change throughout the story “The Enemy”?
Q4. What is the significance of Tom’s character in “The Enemy”?
 
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Character Sketch of General Takima

In the chapter “The Enemy” from Class 12 CBSE English Literature book, General Takima is a character who plays a significant role. Here is a character sketch of General Takima:

General Takima is a high-ranking military officer in Japan during World War II. He is the head of the army and is respected and feared by those under his command. General Takima is depicted as a strict and uncompromising leader who is unwavering in his loyalty to his country and its emperor.

He is characterized by his strong sense of duty and loyalty to Japan, which often leads him to take harsh measures to ensure that his subordinates follow orders. He is also portrayed as a traditionalist who believes in the honor and glory of the Japanese military.

General Takima is deeply suspicious of the Americans and sees them as a threat to Japan’s sovereignty. He is opposed to Dr. Sadao’s decision to help the American prisoner of war and is willing to risk the lives of innocent civilians to capture him.

Throughout the story, General Takima is presented as a formidable and intimidating figure who is willing to do whatever it takes to defend his country. However, his character also reveals a certain vulnerability, particularly when he is confronted with the humanity of the enemy soldier and the moral dilemma it presents.

Overall, General Takima’s character represents the strict and traditionalist values of the Japanese military during the war, and his interactions with Dr. Sadao highlight the conflict between duty to country and personal morality.
 
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Some Questions on Character Sketch of General Takima

Q1. How would you describe General Takima’s personality in “The Enemy”?
Q2. What motivates General Takima’s actions throughout “The Enemy”?
Q3. How does General Takima’s attitude towards the narrator and his fellow prisoners change over the course of the story?
Q4. What is the significance of General Takima’s decision to release the narrator and his fellow prisoners?
Q5. What themes or ideas does General Takima’s character represent in “The Enemy”?
 
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