Analysis Of Dendrocacalia By Abe Kōbō

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Abe Kōbō had a method with his stories and plays, that captivated his audiences through the complexities of his plots as well as the obscure meanings within them. His use of suspense and charm help keep his audience on their toes, while his disjointed plots help guide the readers to emotions and thoughts that are outside of the normal spectrum of ideas. This approach of evoking powerful emotions such as fear and confusion through a literary standpoint can have a strong impact on the reader. This impact is seen through the significance of the protagonist turning into a plant in the story, "Dendrocacalia" by Abe Kōbō. The assessment made by Christopher Bolton in his essay “Transforming Science” (pg 29-34), suggest that Abe’s work is strictly …show more content…

This is seen, when later in the story, Common actually found pleasure in the process and wants to fully transform, describing how his reversed face felt more natural that way. This is related back to Bolton on something I agree with. Bolton describes Dendrocacalia, as “illustrating the dilemma between freedom and belonging” (Bolton, 29). I agree with this mostly because it shows what, I deem, Abe was trying to get across. Although, Common seems to be free, he is trying to find his real self-belonging through this search for K, which is another significance of the transformation. Going back to the letter that he receives from K, we see this transition between pessimistic and optimistic once again. After a year from his initial transformation, he receives the letter from “feminine” K--, he becomes excited to see her and the suspense of finding K gives him an optimistic hope. This is quickly switched to the story becoming more pessimistic when he meets the possible K which turned out to be a small man with glasses. He becomes uneasy and pessimistic afterwards leading him to the poster on the telephone pole. After seeing the poster, he is filled with an ominous presentiment and a tightening of his chest. This realization of him just looking at the poster shows that he is conflicted and he goes into another transformation. Bolton describes this final metamorphosis as “Commons reduction to a vegetable existence in a government facility does not seem very optimistic” (Bolton, 30) which I would agree with if Common didn’t find pleasure in the process. Again we see the changing of moods from pessimist to optimist when Common is pessimistically saying that he, “might as well be reduced to a vegetable here and

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