The Enemy by Richard Wilson (1953)

Name: The Enemy
Author: Richard Wilson

In Richard Wilson’s “The Enemy,” a weary sergeant watches enemy casualties being carried from the battlefield on trucks at dusk. In this war there are no “walking wounded”: those struck are brought back motionless or not at all. The sergeant is horrified by the thought that the enemy might truly be killed, insisting that they must only be frozen “for the duration,” since actual death would make the war unbearable and suicidal for everyone. A lieutenant tries to reassure him that rumors claiming the enemy will never awaken are enemy propaganda. The men speak of the day’s three hundred casualties as a military success, but the sergeant bitterly questions whether either side can really be winning. His distress is worsened by a new pack of cigarettes with ruby-red tips advertised as matching lips; the feminine suggestion unsettles both men in a world where such associations appear forbidden. The sergeant confesses that he personally struck one enemy soldier as she came over a hill. The lieutenant interrupts in alarm, reminding him that “the third person singular is prohibited,” but the sergeant feels relieved after speaking of the enemy as an individual woman. He later accepts a red-tipped cigarette and imagines tasting lipstick. Seeking further comfort, he asks whether it matters where the enemy are hit and whether they suffer; the lieutenant says they simply go to sleep. As the sergeant prepares to sleep early so he can rise for the latrine’s shaving bowls, the lieutenant notes that combat troops need not shave. The sergeant insists that they do shave: “We all do.”

By Richard Wilson · First published 1953 · Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, War Fiction · 1,106 words

First lines

_It was a totally new kind of war, / and yet not really a new war at all._

At dusk the sergeant leaned over the parapet, weary, looking south toward the enemy lines. For him this was the worst part of the day. The fighting was done until tomorrow and the enemy casualties were being brought in through the gate below. Their bodies were piled in awful abandon on the big flat-bed trucks.

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The Enemy is listed on Textopian as a short story by Richard Wilson, dated 1953 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Richard Wilson
Date: 1953 CE
Language: English
Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, War Fiction, Social Science Fiction, Satirical Fiction
Length: 1,106 words
Structure: 1 section, 37 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Genres

Science Fiction — The story imagines a technologically transformed war in which enemies are apparently frozen rather than conventionally wounded or killed, using speculation to examine human behavior.
Dystopian Fiction — Its militarized society controls language, suppresses recognition of the enemy's humanity, and normalizes an emotionally corrosive system of perpetual conflict.
War Fiction — The plot is set at a battlefield front and centers on soldiers, casualties, command structures, combat, and the psychological consequences of participation in war.
Social Science Fiction — The speculative premise chiefly functions as a critique of social arrangements, especially the institutional rules and cultural attitudes that sustain organized violence.