Analysis Of Abe Kobos The Red Cocoon Essays - Oddworld, Kb Abe

Analysis Of Abe Kobo's The Red Cocoon Essays - Oddworld, Kb Abe 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 Kobos 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 in to a silk thread and wrap him up in a cocoon. Abe Kobos 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 60s 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 Abes 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 Abes 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. Abes 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 isnt mine, cant there be just one thing that doesnt belong to anyone? This quest ion appears to have socialist undertones

Julissa Brisman and the Craigslist Killer

Julissa Brisman and the Craigslist Killer On April 14, 2009, Julissa Brisman, 25, was meeting a man named Andy who had answered a masseuse ad that she had placed in the Exotic Services section of Craigslist. The two had emailed back and forth to arrange the time and agreed on 10 p.m. that night. Julissa had an arrangement with her friend, Beth Salomonis. It was a security system of sorts. When someone would call the number Julissa had listed on Craigslist, Beth would answer the call. She would then text Julissa that he was on the way. Julissa would then text Beth back when the man left. At around 9:45 p.m. Andy called and Beth told him to go to Julissas room at 10 p.m. She sent a text to Julissa, with a reminder to text her when it was over, but she never heard back from her friend. From Robbery to Murder of  Julissa Brisman At 10:10 p.m. the police were called to the Marriott Copley Place hotel in Boston after hotel guests heard screams coming from a hotel room. The hotel security found Julissa Brisman in her underwear, lying in the doorway of her hotel room. She was covered in blood with a plastic zip-tie around one wrist. EMS rushed her to Boston Medical Center, but she died within minutes of her arrival. At the same time, the investigators were looking at hotel surveillance photos. One showed a young, tall, blond man wearing a cap on an escalator at 10:06 p.m. The man looked familiar. One of the detectives recognized him as the same man who Trisha Leffler had identified as her attacker just four days earlier. Only this time his victim was beaten and shot to death. The medical examiner said Julissa Brisman had suffered a fractured skull in multiple places from being hit with a gun. She was shot three times- one shot to her chest, one to her stomach and one into her heart. She had bruises and welts on her wrists. She had also managed to scratch her attacker. The skin under her nails would provide the DNA of her killer. Beth called Marriott security early the next morning. She had not been able to get in touch with Julissa. Her call was routed to the police and she received the details of what had happened. She hoped by providing the investigators with Andys email address and his cell phone information that it would be of some help. As it turned out, the email address proved to be the most valuable clue to the investigation. The Craigslist Killer Brismans murder was picked up by the news media and the suspect was dubbed the Craigslist Killer (although he is not the only one that has been given this moniker). By the end of the day following the murder, several news organizations  were aggressively reporting on the murder along with copies of the surveillance photos that the police had provided. Two days later the suspect emerged again. This time he attacked Cynthia Melton in a hotel room in Rhode Island, but he was interrupted by the victims husband. Fortunately, he did not use the gun that he had pointed at the couple. He opted to run instead. Clues left behind at each attack led the Boston detectives to the arrest of 22-year-old Philip Markoff. He was in his second year of medical school, engaged and he had never been arrested. Markoff was charged with armed robbery, kidnapping, and murder. Those close to Markoff knew the police had made a mistake and arrested the wrong man. However, over 100 pieces of evidence had turned up, all pointing to Markoff as the right man. Death Before there was a chance for a jury to decide on who was right, Markoff took his own life in his cell at Bostons Nashua Street Jail. The Craigslist Killer case ended abruptly and without the victims or their loved ones feeling like justice had been served.