Last updated: 2 September 2026 — mapped to the CBSE 2025-26 Vistas syllabus

CBSE The Enemy Class 12 Notes (Chapter 4, Vistas) — 2025-26

If you have ten minutes before your English exam and Chapter 4 of Vistas is still fuzzy, you’re in the right place. These Class 12 English Chapter 4 The Enemy notes walk you through the summary, the two main characters, the themes, and a full set of exam-style questions — the kind your teacher would actually ask, not a rewritten Wikipedia page.

The Enemy is a short story by Pearl S. Buck, and it’s one of those Vistas chapters that looks simple on a first read but hides a genuinely hard moral question underneath. You don’t need to have finished the chapter to use these notes — read them first, then go back to the textbook with sharper eyes.

Quick jump: Chapter Overview · Summary · Character Analysis · Themes · Glossary · Reading with Insight Answers · MCQs · Quick Revision · PYQs · One-Line Answer · FAQs

Chapter Overview: Who Wrote The Enemy, and When Is It Set?

Pearl S. Buck was an American writer who spent much of her childhood and early adult life in China, and that cross-cultural upbringing shows up constantly in her fiction. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938, largely on the strength of her novel The Good Earth, and she wrote The Enemy a few years later, in 1942 — right in the middle of the Second World War, when America and Japan were actively fighting each other in the Pacific.

That timing matters. Buck wasn’t writing a safe historical drama; she was writing about the enemy nation while her own country was at war with it. The story is set on the Japanese coast, mostly inside and around the cliff-top house of a surgeon named Dr Sadao Hoki. Keeping the setting domestic — a veranda, a spare bedroom, a kitchen, a garden — is a deliberate choice. Buck wants the reader to watch a huge moral question play out in small, ordinary rooms, not on a battlefield.

You should know two facts cold for a 1-mark question: the author is Pearl S. Buck, and the story was first published in 1942, during the Pacific War.

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The Enemy Summary: What Actually Happens

Here’s the plot in plain language, broken into the four stages you should remember. A simple way to hold this in your head is the mnemonic W.O.G.E. — Wound, Operation, General, Escape.

1. The Wound

Dr Sadao Hoki lives in a stone house on the Japanese coast with his wife Hana and their two young children. One foggy evening, he and Hana spot a man staggering out of the mist near the beach below their house. He collapses. When they reach him, they discover he is a badly wounded white man — an escaped American prisoner of war, evidently shot in the back and then further injured on the rocks while swimming ashore.

Sadao and Hana face an immediate, brutal choice: report him, which will almost certainly mean his death, or shelter an enemy soldier, which could get their whole family arrested. Neither of them can quite bring themselves to throw a dying man back into the sea, even though that’s the “safe” option they keep proposing to each other.

2. The Operation

They carry the man inside and lay him in an empty guest room. Sadao’s surgical instincts take over almost against his will — he starts checking the man’s pulse and packing the wound before he’s even fully decided to help him. When the household servants refuse to touch “a white man,” Hana washes him herself, overriding her own fear and disgust.

Sadao then performs emergency surgery to remove a bullet, with Hana acting as his untrained anaesthetist, holding ether-soaked cotton near the man’s face. Partway through, she has to run outside and be sick from the stress — and then comes straight back in to keep helping. The surgery succeeds. The soldier, whose name turns out to be Tom, slowly recovers, all while the servants grow more suspicious and eventually quit rather than stay in a house sheltering an American.

3. The General’s Promise

Word of the household’s stress reaches the old General whom Sadao serves as a personal physician. Sadao tells him about the prisoner, expecting help or at least a decision. Instead, the General — self-absorbed and more worried about his own upcoming surgery than about wartime duty — casually offers to send private assassins to kill Tom quietly one night and dispose of the body, so that Sadao’s hands stay clean.

Sadao agrees to the plan, mostly to take the decision out of his own hands. But the assassins never come. Weeks later, when Sadao gently reminds the General about the arrangement, the old man is genuinely startled: he had simply forgotten, because he “thought of nothing but himself” while he was in pain. It’s a small, devastating moment — the person with the power to decide Tom’s fate never even thought about it again.

4. The Escape

With the threat gone but the danger of discovery still real, Sadao decides he cannot risk another night of tension. Once Tom is strong enough, Sadao secretly stocks a boat with food, water, warm clothes, and his own small flashlight, and rows it out to a nearby uninhabited island — close enough to reach, far from any settlement. He tells Tom to wait there for a passing Korean fishing boat and gives him a signal code using flashes of light at sunset.

That night, Tom slips away into the garden and down to the shore. A few nights later, Sadao watches the island from his veranda and sees no light — meaning Tom is gone, safely picked up. The story ends not with triumph but with a quiet, unresolved question in Sadao’s own mind: he cannot fully explain, even to himself, why he was unable to kill a man he was trained to think of as an enemy.

Character Analysis

Dr Sadao Hoki

Sadao is the story’s protagonist, and Buck is careful not to make him a simple hero. He’s a patriot who genuinely believes “all Americans are my enemy,” and he says so out loud in the story. What makes him interesting is that his professional identity as a surgeon consistently wins out over his political identity as a wartime citizen — not because he makes a grand moral speech about it, but because his trained hands start treating the wound before his conscious mind has finished deciding what to do.

Three details anchor his character for exam answers:

• He was sent to America at 22 to study surgery and medicine, returning to Japan at 30 — so his skill, and his sense of professional duty, were literally built in the enemy country.
• His old anatomy professor’s warning echoes in his memory during the operation: that operating without complete knowledge of the body is nothing short of murder. That line explains why Sadao can’t do a careless job even on a man he claims to hate.
• The story deliberately denies him a heroic finish. He doesn’t celebrate saving Tom’s life; he’s left puzzled by his own compassion.

Hana

Hana is easy to underestimate on a first read because she doesn’t get long speeches, but she’s arguably the story’s moral hinge. She was educated partly in America, which is part of why she can still see Tom as a person rather than only as “the enemy.” When the servants refuse to wash the wounded man, she does it herself, out of anger at their stubbornness as much as sympathy for him. She holds the anaesthetic during a surgery she’s never seen before, gets sick from the strain, and comes straight back to finish the job.

Her clearest character line in the story is her question to herself: is this wounded man anything more than a man, and a helpless one at that? That’s not a political argument — it’s a simple, human observation, and it’s exactly the kind of reasoning the story wants you to notice.

Tom, the American Prisoner

Tom barely speaks for the first half of the chapter — he’s unconscious or too weak. Once he recovers a little, he comes across as young, frightened, and grateful, telling Sadao plainly that he wouldn’t be alive without him. His scars (visible on his neck) hint at earlier suffering as a prisoner, though the story never explains them directly. He’s reluctant to leave the safety of the house even once he’s well enough, which tells you how vulnerable he still feels — his survival depends entirely on people who are technically his enemies.

The General

The General is the story’s quiet moral failure. He isn’t cruel exactly — he’s simply too absorbed in his own illness and comfort to follow through on anything, including a decision about a man’s life. He never punishes Sadao, not out of principle, but because he needs Sadao’s surgical skill for himself. His forgetting to send the assassins isn’t mercy; it’s self-absorption with a convenient side effect.

The Servants (Yumi and the Gardener)

The servants represent ordinary wartime prejudice, unfiltered by any personal relationship with the “enemy.” They refuse to help, gossip about the family’s loyalty, and eventually leave rather than stay in a house sheltering an American. They’re not villains — they’re scared and reflect what most people around Sadao and Hana would have felt.

Themes of The Enemy

1. Duty as a professional vs duty as a citizen. This is the central conflict the “Reading with Insight” questions keep circling back to. Sadao’s training as a doctor pulls one way; his identity as a wartime Japanese citizen pulls the other. The story sides, quietly, with the professional and human duty.

2. Wartime prejudice and its limits. Every character except Sadao and Hana treats Tom purely as a category — “the enemy,” “a white man” — rather than a person. The story shows prejudice as something ordinary and understandable, but also something that breaks down the moment you’re forced to actually look after the person you’re prejudiced against.

3. Personal conscience vs public order. The General represents official, institutional power — and he has none of the moral seriousness that Sadao and Hana show as private individuals.

4. Humanity is stronger than politics, but not comfortably. Buck never lets Sadao feel good about what he did. That discomfort is the point: doing the right thing under pressure doesn’t always feel heroic while you’re doing it.

5. An unheroic, honest ending. Most war stories resolve into triumph or tragedy. This one ends with a man confused by his own kindness — which is arguably more realistic than either.

Common Mistake to Avoid

A lot of students read the General’s forgetfulness as a form of compassion — as though he quietly chose mercy. He didn’t. He says outright that he simply thought of nothing but himself. Marking schemes specifically reward students who identify this as self-absorption caused by illness, not deliberate kindness. Getting this distinction right is often the difference between a 4/6 and a 6/6 on that particular Long Answer question.

Literary Devices in The Enemy

Glossary: Words That Trip Students Up

• Haori — a loose outer garment worn over a kimono; Hana wears one when she first sees Tom washed ashore.
• Tokonoma — a raised alcove in a traditional Japanese home, usually used for displaying art; Sadao lays out his surgical instruments here.
• Hypodermic — a needle used to inject medicine directly under the skin; Sadao uses one to strengthen Tom’s pulse during the operation.
• Anaesthetic/ether — a substance that puts a patient to sleep or numbs pain before surgery; Hana administers it using cotton soaked in the liquid.
• Gall bladder — a small organ near the liver; the General’s later illness involves this organ, and it nearly kills him.
• Assassins — people hired to kill someone secretly; the General offers his own private ones to deal with Tom.

Reading with Insight — Full Answers

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.

Sadao’s entire arc is built on this exact tension. As a private individual and a trained doctor, his instinct is to save a dying man regardless of who he is. As a Japanese citizen during wartime, he’s expected to treat Tom as an enemy to be handed over or left to die. Sadao doesn’t resolve this conflict through a grand decision — he resolves it gradually, almost against his own will, because his professional training keeps overriding his political loyalty at every critical moment. The story argues that in extreme situations, the duties we’ve built into our character through training and conscience can matter more than the loyalties we’re expected to perform.

2. Dr Sadao was compelled by his duty as a doctor to help the enemy soldier. What made Hana sympathetic to him in the face of open defiance from the domestic staff?

Hana’s sympathy isn’t really about politics at all — it comes from her own sense that a wounded, helpless man is still simply a man, whatever his nationality. Her years of education, including time spent in America, mean she can’t collapse Tom into a pure abstraction the way the servants do. When Yumi refuses to wash him, Hana’s anger at that stubbornness pushes her into doing it herself, and once she’s physically caring for him, her sympathy deepens further. Her support for Sadao is also personal loyalty — she trusts his judgment even when she’s frightened by it.

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?

Tom’s reluctance comes from simple vulnerability. He’s severely injured, entirely dependent on Sadao’s medical skill, and has nowhere else to go in enemy territory. Even once he’s stronger, leaving means giving up the only safety he has and facing an uncertain, dangerous journey alone. His gratitude toward Sadao — he says plainly that he wouldn’t be alive without him — makes the house feel safe even though he knows, rationally, that staying endangers everyone.

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?

It’s self-absorption, and the story makes this unambiguous — the General admits it himself, saying he thought only of his own suffering. He isn’t showing mercy, and he isn’t being disloyal on principle; he’s simply too consumed by his own illness and comfort to follow through on a decision that doesn’t affect him directly. This is precisely why students should avoid reading his forgetfulness as kindness.

5. While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable, especially during wartime, what makes a human being rise above narrow prejudices?

The story suggests that direct, physical contact with another person’s suffering breaks down abstract hatred faster than any argument could. Sadao doesn’t reason his way out of prejudice — his hands are already treating the wound before his mind fully consents. Empathy built through professional training, shared experience (Hana and Sadao both lived in America), and simple physical proximity to another person’s pain can override the categories that war tries to impose.

6. Do you think the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the circumstances?

It’s a reasonable, defensible solution given the constraints. Handing Tom over would likely have meant his death; keeping him permanently was too dangerous for Sadao’s family; killing him was something Sadao proved, repeatedly, that he was incapable of doing. Quietly equipping him to escape to a nearby island, with a signal system in case he needed help, balanced compassion with self-preservation about as well as the situation allowed. It isn’t a perfect solution — Tom’s survival still depends on chance (a passing fishing boat) — but within the story’s world, it’s the most humane option Sadao actually has.

7. Does the story remind you of ‘Birth’ by A. J. Cronin, which you read in Snapshots last year? What are the similarities?

Both stories center on a doctor facing a difficult professional and moral test — Dr Cameron battling to save a newborn against the odds in “Birth,” and Sadao battling his own political conditioning to save an enemy soldier in “The Enemy.” In both cases, the doctor’s professional commitment to preserving life becomes the real hero of the story, overriding personal doubt or external pressure.

8. Is there any film you have seen or novel you have read with a similar theme?

Several war stories explore this same idea of individual conscience overriding official hatred — for instance, films or novels where a soldier or civilian shelters someone from the “enemy” side at personal risk. The common thread is always the same: once a person becomes real to you, rather than a category, hatred becomes very hard to sustain.

MCQs on The Enemy

1. Who is the author of The Enemy? a) Pearl S. Buck b) A. J. Cronin c) Ruskin Bond d) Nathaniel Hawthorne Answer: a

2. In which year was The Enemy first published? a) 1938 b) 1942 c) 1945 d) 1950 Answer: b

3. What is Dr Sadao’s profession? a) Lawyer b) Surgeon c) General d) Teacher Answer: b

4. Where did Sadao study medicine? a) England b) Germany c) America d) France Answer: c

5. What object gives away Tom’s identity as an American sailor? a) His uniform b) His accent c) His cap with “U.S. Navy” lettering d) His dog tag Answer: c

6. Who refuses to wash the wounded man? a) Hana b) Yumi c) The gardener d) Sadao Answer: b

7. What does the General offer to do about the prisoner? a) Report him himself b) Send private assassins c) Adopt him d) Ignore him completely Answer: b

8. Why does the General never act on his promise? a) He changes his mind out of mercy b) He forgets due to self-absorption over his own illness c) Sadao refuses him d) The prisoner escapes first Answer: b

9. How does Sadao finally help Tom escape? a) By hiding him permanently b) By reporting him to reduce his sentence c) By giving him a boat, supplies, and a signal system to reach an island d) By handing him to the Red Cross Answer: c

10. What is the story’s final emotional note? a) Triumphant celebration b) Sadao’s unresolved question about his own compassion c) Hana’s anger at Sadao d) The General’s gratitude Answer: b

Quick Revision — Night-Before-the-Exam Card

• Author: Pearl S. Buck, 1942, wartime Japan.
• W.O.G.E.: Wound → Operation → General’s forgotten promise → Escape to the island.
• Sadao: professional duty beats political duty; American-trained surgeon.
• Hana: the moral hinge; washes Tom, holds the anaesthetic, gets sick, comes back.
• General: self-absorbed, not compassionate — he forgets the assassins because of his own illness.
• Ending: no light on the island = Tom is safely gone; Sadao is left with a question, not an answer.
• Central theme: human and professional duty can outweigh national loyalty at the moment of choice.

Previous Years’ Question Pattern

5-Mark vs 6-Mark Answer Strategy: For a 5-mark version of a Long Answer question, give three well-developed points with one supporting detail each. For the 6-mark version of the same question, add a fourth point or a brief counter-consideration (for example, noting that Sadao’s solution still left Tom’s survival to chance) — examiners specifically look for that extra layer of nuance to award the top mark.

One-Line Answer You Can Read Aloud

The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck tells the story of a Japanese surgeon, Dr Sadao Hoki, who secretly treats and helps an escaped American prisoner of war escape during World War II, choosing his duty as a doctor over his loyalty as a wartime citizen, and ending the story unable to fully explain his own compassion for a man he was trained to hate.

FAQs

What is the theme of The Enemy Class 12? The chapter shows that a person’s duty as a human being and a professional can outweigh national loyalty in wartime. Dr Sadao’s training as a surgeon overrides his hatred for Americans, proving that compassion can survive even amid war and prejudice.

Why did Dr Sadao save the American soldier? Sadao’s medical training made saving a life an automatic reflex, not a political choice. He checks the man’s pulse and wound before he even fully registers his nationality, showing his identity as a doctor comes before his identity as a wartime citizen.

What is Hana’s role in The Enemy? Hana is the story’s moral and emotional support. She washes the wounded man when the servants refuse, holds the anaesthetic during surgery, and stands by Sadao’s decision even though she’s frightened and physically sickened by the operation.

Why didn’t the General punish Sadao? The General needed Sadao’s surgical skill for his own future operations, so he never reported him. He also promised to send assassins to kill the prisoner but simply forgot, admitting he was too absorbed in his own pain to remember.

How does The Enemy end? Sadao gives the recovered soldier a boat, food, warm clothes, and a torch, helping him row to a nearby uninhabited island to wait for a passing Korean fishing boat. The story closes with Sadao wondering, without an easy answer, why he could not kill the man.

To Sum Up

The Enemy isn’t really a story about war — it’s a story about what happens to a person’s convictions the moment those convictions get tested against a single, specific, wounded human being in front of them. Sadao never becomes a hero in his own eyes. He just keeps doing the next necessary thing a doctor would do, and by the end, that’s turned out to be enough to save a life and quietly question everything he thought he believed about loyalty.

Keep this page bookmarked — revisit the Quick Revision card the night before your exam, and use the MCQs to test yourself cold.

More Class 12 Vistas Notes: The Third Level · The Tiger King · Class 12 English Vistas — Full Chapter Index

About the Author: This chapter guide was prepared by the Nextoper Editorial Team, English educators focused on CBSE Class 9–12 literature, cross-checked against the NCERT Vistas textbook (2026-27 reprint).

Freshness note: Notes reviewed and confirmed accurate for the CBSE 2025-26 academic session as of 2 September 2026.