the_enemy_pearl_s.buck._vocabulary__students_list_part_1.xlsx |
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http://tlc.cet.ac.il/ShowItem.aspx?ItemID=36ccb108-d73c-4db3-ad15-4112881f0c74&lang=EN
The Enemy Vocabulary list and online exercises to help you study them https://quizlet.com/3037943/the-enemy-vocabulary-flash-cards/
Side notes from the book . Typed by Eden Rom.
Classroom summary notes typed by Noa Bar On and Shiran Berko
A full analysis and Q and As from Bagrut exams
The Enemy / Pearl S. Buck HOTS: 1. Problem solving; 2. Making connections; 3. Distinguishing different perspectives 4. Uncovering motives 1. Problem solving: identifying the problem->considering the options->weighing the pros and cons (בעד ונגד) of each option->reaching a decision 2. Making connections: When we use our knowledge in one area to help us understand another area better 3. Distinguishing different perspectives: When people see/perceive things differently 4. Uncovering motives: What makes a character or someone do what he/she does? Why does he/she do this specific thing? Background information: In the summer of 1941, the Japanese conquered China and Indochina. In response, America, Britain and the Netherlands froze Japanese financial assets in their banks and started and oil embargo against Japan. America demanded that Japan withdraw from China and Indochina. In return, America would lift the oil embargo. The Japanese, however, continued their offensive, with plans to conquer the rest of south-east Asia as well as islands in the Pacific Ocean. Fearing opposition from the Pacific Fleet of the US Navy, based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Japanese navy undertook to cripple the Pacific Fleet by a surprise air attack. On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes struck Pearl Harbor. This attack brought the USA into the war on December 8. Germany and Italy, Japan's allies then declared war on the USA. In this way, the USA found itself in the war fighting against Japan in Asia, and against Germany and Italy in Europe and Africa. On May 8, 1945, Germany finally surrendered to the Allies (בעלות הברית). Italy had already surrendered, but the Japanese refused to give up the fight, as surrender was against their tradition. Seeing no end to the fierce was with Japan, the USA dropped an atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima on August 6 and another over Nagasaki on August 9. Only then did Japan announce its surrender, thus ending WW2. About the author: The author of the story, Pearl S. Buck, was the daughter of American missionaries living in China, where she grew up. In 1934, conditions in China forced her to return to the USA. In 1942, while America was fighting Japan and anti-Japanese sentiment was common, she and her husband founded the East and West Association to promote cultural exchange and understanding between Asia and the West. Buck strongly believed that all people are equal. In 1949, angered that American adoption services didn't consider Asian and mixed-race children adoptable, Buck founded Welcome House, the first international, inter-racial adoption agency in the USA. She and her husband adopted six children, two of whom were of mixed race. This background information helps put the specific events of the story into a wider historical context. It helps us understand why the characters in the story consider the helpless American sailor their enemy and why they feel so threatened by his presence in the house. It helps explain why the servants have no sympathy for Tom and why they think he must be handed over to the police as a prisoner of war. It also helps explain Sadao and Hana's conflict. The fact that Pearl Buck grew up in China and had a different perception of Asians from that of most of her countrymen parallels the fact that Sadao and Hana spent time in America and so are able to see Americans in a different light from most of their countrymen, even during wartime. Sadao and Hana are "different from other Japanese" in the same way that Buck was probably different from many Americans in her perception of the Japanese (the enemy) during WW2. This is shown by the fact that she and her husband founded the East and West Association in 1942 while the war was going on. Finally, Buck's belief in the essential equality and brotherhood of man, despite political and cultural differences, is a central message of the story. Literary terms: climax, setting, symbolism, connotation, conflict Setting: The story takes place at Sadao and Hana's home on the coast of Japan. It's a misty evening, sometime during WW2. Symbolism: The fog which appears soon before the American soldier shows up symbolizes Sadao and Hana's predicament (dilemma and problem), the lack of clarity, concerning what they should do with the man on the beach. It might also symbolize secrecy (סודיות).Considerations of safety compel (מאלץ) 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 are 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. Climax: It is the point of highest interest and the turning point of the action. The climax of the story occurs when a messenger appears with a message from the old General. Hana assumes that the servants have revealed that she and Sadao are hiding an enemy soldier. Knowing what the consequences will be for the family, Hana almost faints with fright. Sadao resolves to get rid of the American somehow. This is the point of highest tension, from which all of the subsequent events lead to the resolution of the problem. Conflict: The conflict is between obligation to humanity and duty to one's country. In this story, Sadao and Hana are faced with the dilemma of helping the enemy for humanitarian reasons, even though doing so would be an act of treason against the country. In the end, duty to humanity triumphs (מנצחת). The message of the story: Universal human values take precedence over (עולים על) narrow sectarian considerations (racism, nationalism, chauvinism). The bond uniting all human beings transcends (or should transcend) the difference between us. The theme of racism is reflected in the story in several ways. When Sadao recalls how he met Hana, he remembers that he didn't become serious with her until he was sure that she "had been pure in her race" because otherwise his father wouldn't have approved. Yumi refused to touch the American, let alone wash him before the operation, and when he left she "cleaned the guest room thoroughly…to get the white man's smell out of it." Sadao has strong feelings about white people. He thinks to himself that they are "repulsive" and that "it was a relief to be openly at war with them at last." He also believed that "Americans were full of prejudice, and it had been bitter to live in it, knowing himself their superior." The story reveals the conflict between East and West. When we are told about Sadao's father we see that Sadao's father's room has no western furniture, there are mats on the floor and wall cupboards with bedding. This description reinforces the importance to Sadao's father of Japanese culture and tradition. It suggests a complete rejection of western culture, reinforcing the idea of cultural conflict between East and West. Hana and Sadao are different from other Japanese because they have been exposed to western culture and so are more open-minded and tolerant. They live a good life which combines both traditional values and modern ideas. Because they are well educated and aware, they believe they also have a duty to humanity in addition to their duty to Japan. Sadao and Hana are both well-educated and acquired some of that education in the USA. Therefore, they possess a great deal of knowledge of the world beyond Japan and, particularly, about Americans and their culture. Furthermore, Sadao is a surgeon and took an oath to save lives, which he takes very seriously. As a result, his loyalty to his country isn't the only driving force in his life. The General is also an educated man who studied at Princeton University in the USA, and this is perhaps why he can understand Sadao's predicament (big dilemma). As a general, his loyalty to his country is unquestionable. The servants are simple, uneducated people. As servants, they aren't trained to think for themselves but to obey orders. However, we see that their loyalty to their country surpasses (עולה על) their loyalty to their masters. Their knowledge of the world is limited, so they can't begin to understand the dilemma that Sadao and Hana are facing. In part 4, the General's offer solves Sadao's dilemma. With the man gone from the house, he needs no longer fear arrest. In addition, it solves the moral dilemma of what to do with the man by taking the responsibility out of Sadao's hands. Since he had already resolved to get rid of the man for Hana's sake, when the General offered a solution, Sadao readily accepted it. He doesn't tell Hanna about it because the idea of assassins in the house would upset her, as might the idea of having a man murdered. The story takes place during WW2. From the story, we can understand that Japan was a totalitarian (absolute) state in which rulers dealt harshly with those who opposed them. People could be informed on, arrested and condemned to death. An atmosphere of fear and mistrust prevailed. Hana and Sadao mistrust the servants. Sadao and the general mistrust each other. From what Tom (the enemy) says to Sadao, we can infer that Tom thinks most Japanese are cruel and inhumane, unlike Sadao ("If I hadn't met a Jap like you –well, I wouldn't be alive today. I know that.") and that the Japanese are aggressive and militaristic ("I suggest if all the Japs were like you there wouldn't have been a war.")
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