The Enemy

The Enemy Literary Elements

Genre

Short Story

Setting and Context

Japan, WWII

Narrator and Point of View

Third-person omniscient

Tone and Mood

Tone: solemn, anxious, meditative

Mood: worried, restless, determined

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonists: Sadao and Hana Antagonist: Tom

Major Conflict

Will Sadao treat his enemy and save his life even though he might be punished?

Climax

Sadao sends Tom out to the abandoned island, realizing he cannot have him at the house anymore.

Foreshadowing

N/A.

Understatement

"Come, are we able to put him back into the sea?" is an understatement for letting the man die

Allusions

1. There are numerous allusions to WWII, such as the Americans being enemies, fighting in the war, etc.
2. Manchuria: one of the territories Japan conquered in its effort to expand its empire

Imagery

Buck does not use a lot of imagery in this story, but she does give us images of physical and mental suffering to show what racism, nationalism, and war do to the body and mind.

Paradox

N/A.

Parallelism

N/A.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A.

Personification

1. "mists...come creeping up the beach"
2. "But his trained hands seemed of their own will to be doing what they could to stanch the fearful bleeding"
3. "Then the sea caught him and wounded him with her rocks"

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