Red Cocoon Essay, Research Paper

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 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

statement. The end of the story appears to me to be more complex and intricate

than the rest of the story. I have a difficult time determining what is meant by

the narrator being unwound and wrapped in a cocoon other than the narrator?s

complete isolation from the rest of the world. I have inclinations to believe,

though that there are politcal issues that are underlying this part of the

story, but I?m unsure exactly what. What is somewhat obvious, though is that

Abe is attempting to show how these issues that he has brought up, such as

possessions, isolation of an individual, etc., can cause one to isolate

themselves to the point of becoming fearful of contact with others or even

death. Also, it leads me to believe that Abe is stating that the only way he

feels at home at all is to be by himself, an obivious branch off his problems

growing up. The last line of the story is of some interest, however. Here, the

narrator has been completely enveloped in the cocoon and his whole body has been

unwound and incorporated into the cocoon itself. A policeman comes by and sees

the cocoon lying on railroad tracks and picks it up. The policeman takes the

cocoon and places it in his son?s toy box. Earlier in the story, the policeman

had showed up in a small role to forcefully remove the narrator from a park

bench. Keeping in mind that the story possibly has a motivated political opinion

built in, it is likely that the policeman represents the government of power.

So, it appears that the government Abe is talking about has lead to the

isolation of Abe and contributed to his feelings of neglect. The last

circumstance of the cocoon being placed in the toy box quite possibly means that

the government has not taken the movement of Abe?s politcal party seriously

and has considered it a joke. Abe?s story is full of symbolism and underlying

meaning in my view. It is very interesting that he write such an intricate and

abstract piece of literature and still get a message across. As in the case of

many works of art, a little knowledge of the originator will very likely be of

some help in detereming the meaning of the work as well as the motives they had

for producing it. Art, in all forms, is an extension of the self and knowing a

little bit about someone else will help you in understanding them and their

work.