Analysis of Abe Kobo's The Red Cocoon

A detailed Summary of Analysis of Abe Kobo's The Red Cocoon

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

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 somewhat denounced in the strictist forms of the political stance. Abe's character in "The Red Cocoon" seems to be having problems with ownership of houses and other pieces of property. The question is asked, "Even if it isn't mine, can't there be just one thing that doesn't belong to anyone?" This question appears to have socialist undertones as if one were in support of everything being everyone's. A strange yet interesting parralism is with Samuel Beckett's character in Watt. The character has a very hard time dealing with the issue of time and is isolated because of that problem. Similarly, Abe's character is isolated because of his lack of understanding possesions. As stated before, this situation with the main character also points back to Abe's feelings of isolation during his childhood. It seems that Abe is showing a part of himself through his character; both Abe and his character feel somewhat rejected and not quite fitting in. Even with women it seems since the narrator is coldly rejected by a woman and states, "...the woman turns her face into a wall and shuts the window. That's the true form of a woman's smiling face." Possibly, Abe had also been rejected by a woman over some matter and his conveying his feelings about that in this s

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Approximate Word count = 1324
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English