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M Butterfly Term Paper

Butterfly David Hwang the author of M. Butterfly has been able to through his writing viaduct the past and culture of two very different worlds. Being based on a true story adds further strength to the book. The inspiration behind the writing comes from a real espionage scandal that amazed the world when it happened In the process of writing David Hwang has reflected on the different human weakness, psychosis, and insecurities.

M. Butterfly also depicts the Western fantasies of Asian that led to the debacle of Vietnam. To women the stigma of being physically and mentally weaker has always been attached. They are considered only capable of caring for herself to a certain extent. Passivity is thought of as a female trait, and is admired when a woman displays it. Through the book David Hwang attacks these very traditional views Westerns have held for Asian women.

Mainly the book revolves around two characters,...

Rene Gallimard who moves to China on deputation along with his wife. Unlike most men in his form of service he has never ventured into adultery.
Song Liling is the first real women outside marriage to actually catch his fantasies. He makes a few trips to the opera to sit audience to her and eventually decides to "try and experiment" (Hwang). When thinking up his experiment he recollects a memory of Madame Butterfly in which "Cio-Cio-San fears that the western man who catches a butterfly will pierce its heart with a needle, then leave it to perish"(Hwang). Rene Gallimard has similar feels, that he has caught a butterfly who will "writhe on a needle" (Hwang).

This butterfly for which he fears is his mistress Song Liling. Rene Gallimard experiment was his…

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Hwang, David. M. Butterfly
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