Red Cocoon Essay

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Generally speaking, the purpose of most forms of artistic expression such as

literary art, music, or art itself is a mode by which the author can express

him/herself with. They use their respective skills and/or interests to convey

feelings or thoughts on any given topic. Short fiction is by no means exempt

from this. Many writers use their literary skills to express dreams,

aspirations, opinions, or even political viewpoints. In order to make a

dertermination of a probable origin for a story, research into the authors life

and beliefs most likely will prove benefical. With this in mind, Abe Kobo’s

story “The Red Cocoon” seems to be a prime example of an author expressing

his political viewpoints and his personal conflicts with society through

literature. Given this, researching his life and political stance might help to

support or negate such an assumption. “The Red Cocoon” begins with a man

walking down a street discussing with himself the problem of not having a house

to go home to. The narrator, who is also the main character, jumps abruptly from

topic to topic throughout the story, but this reoccuring theme of the lack of a

house seems to be a central idea. As the narrator comtemplates, he wonders if he

has just forgotten his house and proceeds to knock on the door of a random house

to find out if this is what has happened. After he has explained his plight to

the woman who answers the door, he begins arguing with her over having proof

that it is not his house. Shortly thereafter, the narrator begins to ponder

wether or not things such as concrete pipes or park benches are his house.

Deciding that they are on their way to belonging to someone or that they belong

to everyone and not just one person, he begins to wonder if anything exsists

that belongs to no one. At the end of the story, he finds that one of his legs

begins to unwind into a silk thread and wrap him up in a cocoon. Abe Kobo’s

story is quite abstract and seems to have little meaning. In fact, that is just

the opposite. After reading some information about Abe Kobo, the story seems to

take on a new meaning. Abe Kobo is considered to be one of the leading authors

during the post-WWII era of Japanese history. Many of his works use what was

then radical artistic methods of literature (“Abe Kobo”). In his early

childhood, Abe was living in Manchuria which was occupied by the Japanese at the

time. Being born in Japan, altough Abe felt strong ties to the chinese, he was

left feeling like an outsider and rejected by both societes. After the war, Abe

became more and more antinationalist and was interested in marxism and

communism. Soon, he even joined the Japanese Communist Party (“Abe Kobo”).

He was quite involved in political issues at this time and many of his early

writings preceding the early 60’s deal with his issues about society says

Clerk and Seigal in Modern Literatures of the Non-Western World (136). With this

information about Abe Kobo, an interpretation of “The Red Cocoon” emerges

with heavy political and social tones. The narators central problem of

attempting to find out why he does not have a house seems to point to not only

Abe’s feelings of isolation during his childhood, but also his socialist

political viewpoints at the time. “The Red Cocoon” was written in 1949, a

period of Abe’s life when he was a strong political activist (Clerk and Seigal,

136). Utopian marxist or communist views on society center around a flat

heirarchial structure where no one is more powerful or of a higher class than

any other. The property of the country is reffered to as property of everyone

and ownership is...

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