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Question
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 you have just read.
Solution
Life has many facets. We live it by maintaining a delicate balance between the various facets it offers to us as part of our existence as an individual in a society. Living for our own self, family, profession and country are just a few of them. However at times, it becomes difficult to maintain this balance, and gets overpowered by confusion and dilemmas.
The story about Dr Sadao, Hana and the war prisoner exemplifies this. On finding a wounded war prisoner washed ashore, Dr Sadao and Hana are unable to decide what to do. They are confused whether they should save and tend the injured or leave him to die or inform the army.
Eventually, Dr Sadao strikes a balance by deciding to save him before handing him over to the army. He and his wife sympathetically tend him but the pressure, of secretly hiding a war prisoner in their home and going against the rule of the law, subdue their sympathetic self. In a bid to get rid of this burden, Dr Sadao reveals it to the General who promises to get the prisoner killed through assassins. But Dr Sadao’s humane side again pops up asking him to ply with the voice of his soul, and he goes out of his way to help the enemy soldier flee to safety.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Do you think Dr. Sadao’s final decision was the best possible one in the circumstances? Why/ Why not? Explain with reference to the story, ‘The Enemy’.
Answer the following in 120-150 words:
Dr. Sadao was a patriotic Japanese as well as a dedicated surgeon. How could he honour both the values ?
Dr. Sadao faced a dilemma. Should he use his surgical skills to save the life of a wounded person or hand an escaped American P.O.W. over to the Japanese police? How did he resolve this clash of values?
Answer the following in 125-150 words:
Do you think Dr. Sadao’s final decision was the best possible one in the circumstances? Why/ Why not? Explain with reference to the story, ‘The Enemy’.
Why was Dr. Sadao not sent abroad with the troops during the war ?
It is the time of the World War. An American prisoner of war is washed ashore in a dying state and is found at the doorstep of a Japanese doctor. Should he save him as a doctor or hand him over to the army as a patriot?
Who was Dr Sadao? Where was his house?
Will Dr Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?
Will Hana help the wounded man and wash him herself?
What will Dr Sadao do to get rid of the man?
Dr Sadao was compelled by duty as a doctor to help the enemy soldier. What made Hana, his wife, sympathetic to him in the face of open defiance from the domestic staff?
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?
Do you think the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the circumstances?
Does the story remind you of ‘Birth’ by A. J. Cronin that you read in Snapshots last year? What are the similarities?
Is there any film you have seen or novel you have read with a similar theme?
How do we know that Dr. Sadao was conscientious as well as loyal?
Answer the following question in about 40-50 words.
“Stupid Yumi,” she muttered fiercely. “Is this anything but a man? And a wounded helpless man!” In the conviction of her own superiority she bent impulsively and untied the knotted rugs that kept the white man covered.
Explain the superiority Hana is convinced about.
Answer the following in about 120-150 words.
After seeing off the enemy soldier, Dr. Sadao must have felt relieved. He was able to uphold the oath that he had taken as a doctor. Dr. Sadao made an entry into his daily diary explaining the dilemma faced by him and how he resolved it.
Imagine yourself to be Dr. Sadao and express his thoughts.
(You may begin like this: I was able to uphold the oath that I had taken as a doctor ....)
Answer the following in about 120-150 words.
Dr. Sadao is torn between his duty as a doctor and his responsibility as a patriotic citizen. Elaborate.
