The Enemy

by

Pearl Buck

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Hana is Dr. Sadao Hoki’s wife. The couple met at a university in America, but “waited to fall in love” until their parents back in Japan could properly approve of and arrange the marriage. Hana shows a deep love for Japanese customs and the old way of living, seen through her traditional house (peppered with patios and courtyards) and her role as a subservient housewife. She largely bends to Sadao’s will, often without resentment, and upholds him as the head of the household. Hana’s main task is overseeing the servants—who, in turn, tend to her household and children—and ensuring that her husband is always fed first and taken care of. Although she appears less overtly racist than her husband, she too distains Tom for being white and American. She is also more afraid of going against the cultural grain by dangerously housing and saving the white man, who is clearly a prisoner of war. Tom makes her uncomfortable and anxious, both because of his Americanness and because his presence poses a severe threat to her and Sadao’s safety, given that aiding a prisoner of war and political enemy is against the law. Nonetheless, she finds herself taking care of the American even though she doesn’t really want to, washing him tenderly while thinking racist thoughts. Hana, like Sadao, demonstrates the human impulse to be altruistic and take care of fellow humans, but also shows how racial prejudice and nationalism cloud such thinking.

Hana Quotes in The Enemy

The The Enemy quotes below are all either spoken by Hana or refer to Hana. 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

He had met Hana in America, but he had waited to fall in love with her until he was sure she was Japanese. His father would never have received her unless she had been pure in her race […] they had not married heedlessly in America. They had finished their work at school and had come home to Japan, and when his father had seen her the marriage had been arranged in the old Japanese way, although Sadao and Hana had talked everything over beforehand.

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki, Hana, Sadao’s Father
Page Number: 25-26
Explanation and Analysis:

“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:

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:
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The Enemy PDF

Hana Quotes in The Enemy

The The Enemy quotes below are all either spoken by Hana or refer to Hana. 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

He had met Hana in America, but he had waited to fall in love with her until he was sure she was Japanese. His father would never have received her unless she had been pure in her race […] they had not married heedlessly in America. They had finished their work at school and had come home to Japan, and when his father had seen her the marriage had been arranged in the old Japanese way, although Sadao and Hana had talked everything over beforehand.

Related Characters: Dr. Sadao Hoki, Hana, Sadao’s Father
Page Number: 25-26
Explanation and Analysis:

“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:

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: