The Ruthless Pragmatism of General Takima

General Takima is a minor character in Nobel laureate Pearl S Buck’s short story, The Enemy. It is one of the lessons prescribed in class 12 by CBSE. One of the questions that students often ask is whether Takima is a patriot at all since he is driven by self-centredness to let an enemy soldier escape. Recently a teacher-friend of mine raised the same question in slightly different words.

For those who are not familiar with the story, here’s a brief summary. Dr Sadao, a Japanese doctor, is moved by sheer humanitarian consideration when Tom, a fugitive American prisoner of war, is washed ashore near his house. Dr Sadao not only treats him to the utter dismay of his servants but also helps him to escape in the end. General Takima refused to take action when the doctor had reported the soldier after he had recuperated totally.

Why does General Takima fail to take action? Is it blatant selfishness because he is Dr Sadao’s patient and may require a surgery too? Dr Sadao is the best surgeon around. The General cannot afford to antagonise the doctor by killing a man whom the latter had nurtured back to health. So he promises to take action by sending his private assassins to kill the American soldier and dispose of the body too.  He doesn’t do it, however. He knows enough about the American sentimentalism and that Dr Sadao studied medicine in America.

General Takima wishes they could “better combine the German ruthlessness with the American sentimentality”. The General is a ruthless man: he beats his wife and (apparently) tortures the prisoners of war. The doctor is a sentimental man in the General’s perspective.

Dr Sadao is not sentimental, of course. He is a paragon of professionalism and humanity. He cannot but save a human life. Saving life is his profession. He says repeatedly that he never liked the Americans for various reasons. Yet he gives his own boat equipped with all necessary things so that Tom can escape safely. His heart towers above his reason.

It is motive that makes our actions right or wrong, noble or ignoble. Dr Sadao’s motive is humaneness. General Sadao is driven by self-centredness. “The truth is,” he says when the doctor informs him about the soldier’s escape, “I thought of nothing but myself. In short, I forgot my promise to you.”

He chose to forget. That’s a choice prompted by the ruthlessness of his pragmatism. He does not forget to assert that “it was not lack of patriotism or dereliction of duty.” Is he a patriot? Of course, he is; he loves his country. Was there a dereliction of duty? There was. He failed to take action. He chose not to act because the only action he knew was to torture and such action would not go down well with Dr Sadao. The real problem with General Takima is not lack of patriotism or dereliction of duty; the problem is that he is an inferior human being.

The patriotism of people like General Takima is inevitably destined to be hatred of others masquerading as love of one’s nation. The patriotism of Dr Sadao’s servants who leave the house all together because the doctor is sheltering an enemy soldier is fear masquerading as patriotism. Most patriotism is one evil or the other doing a masquerade. And there is a ruthless pragmatism sustaining the masquerade.

Dr Sadao is the genuine patriot. He loves his country and is proud of its culture. But he knows very well that love of one’s own nation need not necessitate hatred of other nations. Dr Sadao is the superior human being.