25 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in the common exam-style shapes. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markWho wrote “The Enemy”?
(A) Pearl S. Buck(B) Tishani Doshi(C) Kalki(D) Jack Finney - 1 mark“The Enemy” is best described as a:
(A) Travelogue / personal essay(B) Short story with invented characters(C) Biography(D) Diary entry - 1 markThe story’s events are narrated:
(A) In the first person, by Sadao(B) In the first person, by Hana(C) In the third person, staying close to Tom(D) In the third person, staying close to Sadao and Hana - 1 markWhere did Sadao first meet Hana?
(A) At a hospital in Japan(B) At Professor Harley’s house in America(C) On the ship back to Japan(D) At his father’s house - 1 markWhat does Sadao first guess the man washed ashore to be?
(A) A fisherman washed from his boat(B) An enemy spy(C) A dead body(D) A Japanese soldier - 1 markWhat branch of the American forces did Tom belong to?
(A) The Army(B) The Air Force(C) The Navy(D) The Marines - 1 markDuring the operation, what does Sadao think about the man on his table?
(A) “This man will make a fine soldier again”(B) “I must save him to please the General”(C) “I have never operated so well in my life”(D) “This man … there is no reason under heaven why he should live” - 1 markWhy is the small offshore island a safe place for Tom to hide?
(A) It is so near the coast that it is unfortified, nobody lives on it because it is submerged in storms, and it is not currently storm season(B) It has a Japanese naval base(C) It is heavily guarded(D) No one knows it exists - 1 markBy the end of the story, the title “The Enemy” becomes ironic mainly because:
(A) Tom turns out to be a spy, not an ordinary sailor(B) The General is revealed to be the real enemy of Japan(C) The word is used for Tom throughout, yet Sadao cannot explain why he could not kill the man he calls his enemy(D) Hana decides Tom is not really an enemy at all and says so openly
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): Dr Sadao operates on the wounded American even though he calls him “my enemy.”
Reason (R): As he tells Hana, he has been “trained not to let a man die if I can help it.”
(A) A and R are both true, but R does not explain A(B) A and R are both true, and R correctly explains A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): Sadao himself arranges for Tom to row out to the nearby island and escape.
Reason (R): The General’s private assassins had already arrived at the house and threatened Sadao.
(A) A is true, but R is false(B) A and R are both true, and R correctly explains A(C) A and R are both true, but R does not explain A(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): Hana only bows “her little distant bow” after Tom tells her, “my name is Tom” (said the day before).
Reason (R): She had come to think of him as a prisoner and did not wish to assuage the hurt she saw in his eyes.
(A) A and R are both true, but R does not explain A(B) A is true, but R is false(C) A is false, but R is true(D) A and R are both true, and R correctly explains A
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch List I with List II.
List I: (i) Dr Sadao (ii) Hana (iii) Tom (iv) The old General
List II: (p) Proposes the killing, then forgets his promise to Sadao (q) Escaped American sailor (r) Operates on the wounded man (s) Washes the man herself after Yumi refuses
(A) i-p, ii-q, iii-r, iv-s(B) i-q, ii-r, iii-s, iv-p(C) i-s, ii-p, iii-q, iv-r(D) i-r, ii-s, iii-q, iv-p - 1 markMatch List I with List II.
List I: (i) Refuses to wash Tom (ii) Gives anesthetic for the first time (iii) Proposes using “private assassins” (iv) Kills a fowl for its blood
List II: (p) Hana (q) The cook (r) Yumi (s) The old General
(A) i-p, ii-r, iii-q, iv-s(B) i-q, ii-s, iii-p, iv-r(C) i-r, ii-p, iii-s, iv-q(D) i-s, ii-q, iii-r, iv-p
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markConsider the following statements.
Statement I: The story explicitly states that the scars on Tom’s neck were caused by torture during his imprisonment.
Statement II: The story leaves the origin of the scars unexplained; Sadao notices them but “did not ask”.
(A) Statement I is true, Statement II is false(B) Both statements are true, and Statement II explains Statement I(C) Both statements are true, but Statement II does not explain Statement I(D) Statement I is false, Statement II is true - 1 markConsider the following statements.
Statement I: The General’s private assassins actually come to the house and kill Tom one night.
Statement II: So far as Sadao knows, no assassins ever came, and it is Sadao himself who eventually arranges Tom’s escape.
(A) Both statements are true, and Statement II explains Statement I(B) Both statements are true, but Statement II does not explain Statement I(C) Statement I is false, Statement II is true(D) Statement I is true, Statement II is false - 1 markConsider the following statements.
Statement I: The story ends with Sadao clearly explaining, in his own words, why he could not bring himself to kill Tom.
Statement II: The story ends on Sadao’s unresolved thought, “Strange,” he thought. “I wonder why I could not kill him?”
(A) Both statements are true, and Statement II explains Statement I(B) Both statements are true, but Statement II does not explain Statement I(C) Statement I is true, Statement II is false(D) Statement I is false, Statement II is true
5 Arrange in the Correct Order
Arrange in the Correct Order
- 1 markArrange these events in the order they happen in the story.
1. Sadao and Hana see something black come out of the mist
2. They read the words “U.S. Navy” on the man’s cap
3. They decide to carry the man into the house
4. Sadao finds the reopened bullet wound
(A) 1-2-4-3(B) 4-1-2-3(C) 1-4-2-3(D) 1-3-4-2 - 1 markArrange these events in the order they happen in the story.
1. The three servants quit together
2. Tom gives his name as “Tom”
3. Sadao begins, then abandons, his report to the police
4. Hana asks, “Why are we different from other Japanese?”
(A) 3-2-1-4(B) 2-1-3-4(C) 2-3-1-4(D) 1-2-3-4
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 mark“He was very light, like a ______ that had been half-starved for a long time until it is only feathers and skeleton.”
(A) dog(B) cat(C) fowl(D) goat - 1 mark“Ignorance of the human body is the surgeon’s cardinal ______, sirs!”
(A) sin(B) mistake(C) weakness(D) danger
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markThree of these numbers appear in this story. Which one does not?
(A) Twenty-two (Sadao’s age sent to America)(B) Fifty-two (people who walked on the ocean)(C) Thirty (Sadao’s age on return)(D) Twenty-first (day of February in Sadao’s report)
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
“The bullet is still there,” he said with cool interest. “Now I wonder how deep this rock wound is. If it is not too deep it may be that I can get the bullet. But the bleeding is not superficial. He has lost much blood.” At this moment Hana choked. He looked up and saw her face the colour of sulphur. “Don’t faint,” he said sharply. He did not put down his exploring instrument. “If I stop now the man will surely die.” She clapped her hands to her mouth and leaped up and ran out of the room. Outside in the garden he heard her retching. But he went on with his work. “It will be better for her to empty her stomach,” he thought.
- 1 markAccording to the passage, why does Sadao continue the operation even after Hana is distressed?
(A) He believes stopping now would let the man die(B) He does not notice her distress(C) He wants to finish quickly and go to her(D) The General has ordered him to continue
Passage
“It would be best if he could be quietly killed,” the General said. “Not by you, but by someone who does not know him. I have my own private assassins. Suppose I send two of them to your house tonight or better, any night. You need know nothing about it. It is now warm — what would be more natural than that you should leave the outer partition of the white man’s room open to the garden while he sleeps?” “Certainly it would be very natural,” Sadao agreed. “In fact, it is so left open every night.” “Good,” the General said, yawning. “They are very capable assassins — they make no noise and they know the trick of inward bleeding. If you like I can even have them remove the body.”
- 1 markAccording to the passage, how does the General say his assassins would kill Tom?
(A) By poisoning his food(B) By using “the trick of inward bleeding” and making no noise(C) By shooting him openly(D) By reporting him to the police first
9 True / False
True / False
- 1 markConsider the following statements.
(i) Tom is identified as a sailor from the U.S. Navy.
(ii) Tom is described as looking, at one point, barely seventeen years old.
(A) Both are true(B) Both are false(C) Only (i) is true(D) Only (ii) is true
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions
- (A) “The Enemy” is written by the American novelist Pearl S. Buck.
- (B) It is fiction: a short story with characters (Sadao, Hana, Tom) invented to dramatise a wartime moral dilemma.
- (D) The story is told in the third person and stays close to the Japanese household’s point of view; Tom’s private thoughts are never shown directly.
- (B) Sadao met Hana “by chance” at an American professor’s house, Professor Harley’s.
- (A) Sadao’s first guess is “a fisherman… washed from his boat,” before they see his wound and his face.
- (C) His cap reads “U.S. Navy”; he is a sailor from an American warship, not a pilot.
- (D) Even while operating with total precision, Sadao thinks, “This man,” … “there is no reason under heaven why he should live.”
- (A) It “has not been worth fortifying” because it is so near the coast; nobody lives there because in storm it is submerged, and “this is not the season of storm.”
- (C) Tom is repeatedly labelled “the enemy” or “the white man,” yet Sadao cannot explain why he could not kill him. One reading is that the real dividing line is not nationality but the hatred both sides carry.
Assertion-Reason
- (B) Both are true, and R explains A: Sadao says, “Americans are our enemies. But I have been trained not to let a man die if I can help it.”
- (A) A is true: Sadao does arrange the escape himself. R is false: no assassins are shown at the house; so far as Sadao knew, they had never come. He acts because he “could not … go through another night” of waiting.
- (D) Both are true, and R explains A: “She had come to think of him as a prisoner… She saw hurt in his eyes but she did not wish to assuage it.”
Match the Following
- (D) Sadao operates (r), Hana washes him (s), Tom is the escaped sailor (q), the General proposes and then forgets (p).
- (C) Yumi refuses to wash Tom (r), Hana gives anesthetic (p), the General proposes assassins (s), the cook kills the fowl (q).
Statement-Based Questions
- (D) Statement I is false: the story never says what caused the scars. Statement II is true: it is a deliberately open detail, and Sadao chooses not to ask about it.
- (C) Statement I is false: “So far as he knew they had never come,” though Sadao spends three nights in dread expecting them. Statement II is true: Sadao arranges the escape himself.
- (D) Statement I is false: Sadao never explains his own reasons. Statement II is true, quoted exactly as the story’s final line.
Arrange in the Correct Order
- (C) They first see the shape in the mist (1), then Sadao finds the wound (4), then they identify “U.S. Navy” on the cap (2), and finally decide to carry him inside (3).
- (C) Tom gives his name first (2), Sadao starts and hides the report (3), then the servants quit (1), and Hana asks her question afterward (4).
Fill in the Blanks
- (C) The story’s exact simile compares Tom’s wasted body to “a fowl that had been half-starved.”
- (A) Sadao’s old American professor of anatomy: “Ignorance of the human body is the surgeon’s cardinal sin, sirs!”
Odd One Out
- (B) “Fifty-two” is from Chapter 3, Journey to the End of the Earth (the number of people who walked on the ocean). It does not appear in The Enemy.
Passage-Based Questions
- (A) Sadao tells her sharply, “If I stop now the man will surely die,” and continues working.
- (B) The General says his assassins “make no noise and they know the trick of inward bleeding.”
True / False
- (A) Both are true: his cap reads “U.S. Navy,” and the narrator says he “looked just now barely seventeen.”
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