Question: The fog in the story ‘The Enemy’ is symbolic. Elucidate.
Answer: The fog which appears soon before the American soldier shows up symbolises Sadao and Hana’s predicament and lack of clarity concerning what they should do with the man on the beach. It might also symbolize secrecy. Considerations of safety compel them to keep the man’s presence in their home a secret. They’re faced with the dilemma of whether or not to save the man’s life. On the one hand, sheltering an enemy in their home, especially an enemy prisoner, could endanger the entire family. On the other hand, they feel incapable of throwing a wounded man back into the sea, where he would certainly die. For the same reason, they hesitate to turn him over to the police.
More Question
- According to Zitkala-Sa what does ‘eating by the formula’ mean?
- How did Zitkala-Sa’s first day in the land of apples begin?
- At the dining table, why did Zitkala-Sa begin to cry when others started eating?
- What advice did Annan offer Bama?
- Why was Zitkala-Sa terrified when Judewin told her that her hair would be cut short?
- What did Zitkala-Sa feel when her long hair was cut?
- Why did the landlord’s man ask Bama’s brother, on which street he lived? What was the significance?
- How was Zitkala-Sa’s hair cut?
- What kind of discrimination did Bama and Zitkala experience? How did they respond to their respective situations?
- What are the similarities in the lives of Bama and Zitkala though they belong to different cultures?
- Describe how Zitkala-Sa tried in vain to save her hair from being cut. Why did she want to save her hair?
- How did Zitkala-Sa try to prevent the shingling of her hair?
- When did Bama first come to know of the social discrimination faced by the people of her community?
- Why did Zitkala-Sa not want her hair to be cut short?
- Why was the girl tied to a chair in Memories of Childhood?
- What would take ‘Bama’ half an hour to cover ten minutes distance?
- Mention any two reasons because of which it would take thirty minutes to an hour for Bama to reach home? (Memories of Childhood—We too are human beings)
- How was Zitkala-Sa different from the other Native American students?
- Even today so many among us believe in superstitions. An astrologer predicted about ‘the Tiger King’ that he would be killed by a tiger. He ‘killed’ one hundred tigers yet was himself ‘killed’ by a tiger
- Giving a bribe is an evil practice. How did the Tiger King bribe the British officer to save his kingdom? How do you view this act of his?
- Both Bama and Zitkala-Sa are victims of discrimination that is practised in society. What kind of experience did both of them go through?
- The narrator in ‘We Too Are Human Beings’ is amused at the way the elder of her street carried the food packet by its string without touching it. But the same girl is provoked and becomes angry when Annan makes her aware of the social inequality
- Describe how the narrator in 'The Cutting of My Long Hair' resists and fights against the attempt of shingling her long and heavy hair. How is she ultimately made to lose her distinct cultural identity?
- In what condition did Dr Sadao find the American soldier at the seashore?
- Where, when and how did Dr Sadao meet Hana?
- Why was Dr Sadao not sent abroad along with the troops?
- “But Sadao searching the spot of black in the twilight sea that night, had his reward”. What was the reward?
- What was his father’s chief concern about Dr Sadao?
- What was Sadao’s father’s dream for him? How did Sadao realise it?
- What role did the American professor play in bringing Hana and Sadao together?
- Why does Dr Sadao mutter the words ‘My friend’ while treating the American prisoner of war? What is ironic about his words?
- Was Dr Sadao arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy?
- How did Hana react when she saw a messenger at the door in an official uniform?
- What forced Dr Sadao to be impatient and irritable with his patient?
- What help did Dr Sadao seek from Hana while operating on the wounded white man?
- How does the writer indicate that Dr Sadao’s father was a very traditional and conventional man?
- Why did Hana wash the wounded soldier herself?
- How did Dr Sadao ensure that the American soldier left his house but he himself remained safe and secure?
- In what context does Hana remember General Takima? What does she infer?
- Why did the messenger come to Dr Sadao? What did Hana think about it?
- Why was it a celebration time for all the tigers inhabiting Pratibandapuram?
- What sort of hunts did the Maharaja offer to organise for the high-ranking British officer? What trait of the officer does it reveal?
- Why was the Maharaja so anxious to kill the hundredth tiger?
- Why did the Maharaja decide to get married?
- How does the hundredth tiger take its final revenge upon the Tiger King?
- What was the astrologer’s reaction when the Maharaja told him that he had killed his first tiger?
- What led the Maharaja to start out on a tiger hunt?
- Why, do you think, was the Maharaja in danger of losing his throne?
- What did the British officer’s secretary tell the Maharaja? Why did the Maharaja refuse permission?
- When did the Tiger King stand in danger of losing his kingdom? How was he able to avert the danger?