The Face of Another by Kb Abe - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The face as a means of both communication and identity, the author of The Face of Another, Kobe Abe, confronts the reader with the means by which humanity attempts to provide both a cover and an explanation for the absence of something that should otherwise be. As a function of the time and experiences that helped to define the author’s life, as well as the surrealistic style that his literature adopted, the story itself represents many more levels of meanings than merely can be expressed through the simple imagery of a man seeking to represent a new face to the world in which he lives. As a means to describe but a few of the resonating themes that are presented in Abe’s novel, this brief analysis will attempt to consider the work from literal, historical, and figurative approaches.
From the literal perspective, the man behind the mask begins to redefine the way that he interacts with the world around him as a function of the fact that he no longer identifies with the true human being that is represented underneath the false exterior but a different person entirely. Rather than having the opportunity and being able to realize this rebirth and redefinition that the mask is able to give the protagonist, the carry-over affect of insecurities, unhappiness, and pervasive loneliness that have previously defined the growth of the character and serve only to be magnified under the representation of the mask. Says the author,
“I can hardly believe that the face is so important to a man's existence. A man's worth should be gauged by the content of his work; possibly the convolutions of the surface of the brain have something to do with it, but his face certainly does not. If the loss of a face can cause a conspicuous change in the scale of evaluation, it may well be owing to a fundamental emptiness of content” (Abe 29) ...Download file to see next pagesRead More