Pearl S Buck’s short story, The Enemy , set in Japan during the World War II, is a poignant lesson in the conflict between the heart and the brain. Dr Sadao unexpectedly comes across an American prisoner of war who was trying to escape from the convict ship. He was shot in the back and was wounded further by the sea waves that threw him against the rocks in the ocean. Dr Sadao’s dilemma is whether to save the young American’s life or to hand him over to the authorities. Sadao is one of the best surgeons in the country and he can save the man. But as a good citizen, it is his duty to report an escaped soldier. Soon the doctor’s heart overpowers his reason. He carries the enemy home and goes ahead with the surgery and treatment. Throughout the story which unfolds over a few weeks, the doctor tells himself time and again that the soldier in his house is his enemy, his country’s enemy. But the doctor is incapable of reporting him to the authorities. The report that he begins to type does
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