The Enemy Essay Questions

After Sadao successfully operates on Tom, why does he sigh?

Sadao's sigh is important and not immediately identifiable in terms of what prompted it. Is he pleased with himself? Is this a sigh of relief that he was successful, and a sigh of pleasure at his good work? Or, is this a sigh that he knows he has done something "wrong"? Is he worried that now that the boy will live, there are even more problems to deal with? Is he worried that he will get in trouble? One could argue any of these points successfully, but it seems like the sigh represents some combination of all of these. Sadao never quite definitively lands on one side of his moral dilemma, so his ambivalence here fits in with his mindset in the rest of the story.

What does Buck imply about Japanese people and culture through her depiction of the servants?

Buck largely avoids condemnation of Japanese people in this story, even though she's an American writing during WWII after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. She is mostly fair and balanced, and one of the main points of her story is that either America or Japan could be the "enemy" in the story's title. However, her depiction of the servants is one of the glimmers of potential prejudice on her part. Critic Tammara Or Slilat writes, "The juxtaposition of the POW's blood which the gardener doesn't care about and wants to let him bleed with the chicken's blood that is so precious to him is ironical and symbolical. It symbolizes the Japanese inherent cruelty and their lack of regard for human life. This is the point of view of the writer, of course." Slilat might be a little too intense in her characterization of Buck, but there is a point here: the blood is a symbol, and the gardener and cook are depicted as violent, stubborn, and ignorant, which might be Buck's view of most Japanese people. Perhaps Sadao and Hana are outliers, and we are not to forget, according to Buck, what most Japanese people really are like. All of this is speculative and mere fodder for thought, giving readers even more to consider.

How did Sadao and Hana's time in America affect them?

There are a few ways to answer this question. If we impart to Buck a mindset of American superiority, we can see Sadao and Hana owing their compassion, rationality, and ethical concern to their stay in America. That is why they are different—why they cannot be as indifferent and cruel as the servants. Another way to look at it is that their time in America didn't matter at all beyond the medical training. Sadao and Hana are thoughtful and intelligent people and their time in America was a trying one, filled with prejudice and suspicion on the part of Americans. They are thoughtful, intelligent, and ethical in spite of their time in America, which they can, justifiably, look on with disdain.