The Enemy

by

Pearl Buck

Tom / The American Character Analysis

Tom is a teenage 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 with Sadao and Hana, his mere presence forces them to grapple with their conflicting impulses to help a fellow human and 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—praise that 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.

Tom / The American Quotes in The Enemy

The The Enemy quotes below are all either spoken by Tom / The American or refer to Tom / The American. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Decisions and Duty Theme Icon
).
The Enemy Quotes

“What shall we do with this man?” Sadao muttered. But his trained hands seemed of their own will to be doing what they could to stanch the fearful bleeding. He packed the wound with the sea moss that strewed the beach. […]

“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 a 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.

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Hana (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 27-28
Explanation and Analysis:

Sadao hesitated again. “The strange thing is,” he said, “that if the man were whole I could turn him over to the police without difficulty. I care nothing for him. He is my enemy. All Americans are my enemy. And he is only a common fellow. You see how foolish his face is. But since he is wounded…”

“You cannot throw him back to the sea,” Hana said.

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Hana (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 28
Explanation and Analysis:

“This man,” he thought, “there is no reason under heaven why he should live.”

Unconsciously this thought made him ruthless and he proceeded swiftly. In his dream, the man moaned but Sadao paid no heed except to mutter at him.

“Groan,” he muttered, “groan if you like. I am not doing this for my own pleasure. In fact, I do not know why I am doing it.”

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:

Watching him, she wondered if the stories they heard sometimes of the sufferings of prisoners were true. They came like flickers of rumour, 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. But sometimes she remembered such men as General Takima, who at home beat his wife cruelly, though no one mentioned it now that he had fought so victorious a battle in Manchuria. If a man like that could be so cruel to a woman in his power, would he not be cruel to one like this for instance?

Related Characters: Hana, Tom / The American, General Takima
Related Symbols: Tom’s Scars
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:

“It is not quite at the kidney, my friend,” Sadao murmured. It was his habit to murmur to the patient when he forgot himself in an operation. “My friend,” he always called his patients and so now he did, forgetting that this was his enemy.

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:

“You say you think I can stand one more such attack as I have had today?”
“Not more than one,” Sadao said.

“Then certainly I can allow nothing to happen to you,” the General said with anxiety. His long pale Japanese face became expressionless, which meant that he was in deep thought. “You cannot be arrested,” the General said, closing his eyes. “Suppose you were condemned to death and the next day I had to have my operation?”

“There are other surgeons, Excellency,” Sadao suggested.

“None I trust,” the General replied. “The best ones have been trained by Germans and would consider the operation successful even if I died.”

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), The General (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:

“That prisoner,” he said with some energy, “did I not promise you I would kill him for you?”

“You did, Excellency,” Sadao said.

“Well, well!” the old man said in a tone of amazement, “so I did! But you see, I was suffering a good deal. The truth is, I thought of nothing but myself. In short, I forgot my promise to you.”

“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?”

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), The General (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 45-46
Explanation and Analysis:

The Americans were full of prejudice and it had been bitter to live in it, knowing himself their superior. How he had despised the ignorant and dirty old woman who had at last consented to house him in her miserable home! He had once tried to be grateful to her because she had in his last year nursed him through influenza, but it was difficult, for she was no less repulsive to him in her kindness. Now he remembered the youthful, haggard face of his prisoner—white and repulsive.

“Strange,” he thought. “I wonder why I could not kill him?”

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Tom / The American, The American Landlady
Page Number: 46-47
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Enemy PDF

Tom / The American Quotes in The Enemy

The The Enemy quotes below are all either spoken by Tom / The American or refer to Tom / The American. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Decisions and Duty Theme Icon
).
The Enemy Quotes

“What shall we do with this man?” Sadao muttered. But his trained hands seemed of their own will to be doing what they could to stanch the fearful bleeding. He packed the wound with the sea moss that strewed the beach. […]

“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 a 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.

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Hana (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 27-28
Explanation and Analysis:

Sadao hesitated again. “The strange thing is,” he said, “that if the man were whole I could turn him over to the police without difficulty. I care nothing for him. He is my enemy. All Americans are my enemy. And he is only a common fellow. You see how foolish his face is. But since he is wounded…”

“You cannot throw him back to the sea,” Hana said.

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Hana (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 28
Explanation and Analysis:

“This man,” he thought, “there is no reason under heaven why he should live.”

Unconsciously this thought made him ruthless and he proceeded swiftly. In his dream, the man moaned but Sadao paid no heed except to mutter at him.

“Groan,” he muttered, “groan if you like. I am not doing this for my own pleasure. In fact, I do not know why I am doing it.”

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:

Watching him, she wondered if the stories they heard sometimes of the sufferings of prisoners were true. They came like flickers of rumour, 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. But sometimes she remembered such men as General Takima, who at home beat his wife cruelly, though no one mentioned it now that he had fought so victorious a battle in Manchuria. If a man like that could be so cruel to a woman in his power, would he not be cruel to one like this for instance?

Related Characters: Hana, Tom / The American, General Takima
Related Symbols: Tom’s Scars
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:

“It is not quite at the kidney, my friend,” Sadao murmured. It was his habit to murmur to the patient when he forgot himself in an operation. “My friend,” he always called his patients and so now he did, forgetting that this was his enemy.

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:

“You say you think I can stand one more such attack as I have had today?”
“Not more than one,” Sadao said.

“Then certainly I can allow nothing to happen to you,” the General said with anxiety. His long pale Japanese face became expressionless, which meant that he was in deep thought. “You cannot be arrested,” the General said, closing his eyes. “Suppose you were condemned to death and the next day I had to have my operation?”

“There are other surgeons, Excellency,” Sadao suggested.

“None I trust,” the General replied. “The best ones have been trained by Germans and would consider the operation successful even if I died.”

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), The General (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:

“That prisoner,” he said with some energy, “did I not promise you I would kill him for you?”

“You did, Excellency,” Sadao said.

“Well, well!” the old man said in a tone of amazement, “so I did! But you see, I was suffering a good deal. The truth is, I thought of nothing but myself. In short, I forgot my promise to you.”

“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?”

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), The General (speaker), Tom / The American
Page Number: 45-46
Explanation and Analysis:

The Americans were full of prejudice and it had been bitter to live in it, knowing himself their superior. How he had despised the ignorant and dirty old woman who had at last consented to house him in her miserable home! He had once tried to be grateful to her because she had in his last year nursed him through influenza, but it was difficult, for she was no less repulsive to him in her kindness. Now he remembered the youthful, haggard face of his prisoner—white and repulsive.

“Strange,” he thought. “I wonder why I could not kill him?”

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki (speaker), Tom / The American, The American Landlady
Page Number: 46-47
Explanation and Analysis: