Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2000. [Vol. 6.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - András Tarnóc: "we deserve a Butterfly ": The Reversal of the Post-colonial Self in David Henry Hwang 's M. Butterfly

at the point of production and reception which also reflect the contradictions and conflicts in the (given) social formation" (Hodge and Kress qtd. in Varró 57). Tn any logonomic system the producer of the discourse enjoys dominance over the receiver, and the discourse itself is conditioned socially, culturally, and psychologically. If we take Varró's conviction that logonomic systems function as semiotic constructs in which the message and discourse are conditioned, initiated, received and understood according to current power relations (57), the following conclusions can be made.The producer of the message is Song who masquerades himself as a woman. While this impersonation yields a societal microcosm, it would be too hasty to conclude that this simply means the assumption of a dominant position over a female by a male. The first microcosm is created between colonizer and colonial with Gallimard as a Westerner representing the former, Song as an Easterner standing for the latter. In addition to the years of colonization stereotyping is the other conditioning factor. Song passionately declares at the trial of Gallimard during which the French diplomat's lack of recognition of Song's true sexual identity is questioned, that "being an Oriental, one could never be completely a man" (2864). Song initiates the communication as a colonial subject and s/he remains in that role throughout. On the receiving end Gallimard as the representative of the colonizer accepts Song's message, that is acting as an opera singer reciting Madame Butterfly, in a condescending manner, and understands it as the reaffirmation of his European and colonial superiority. The second, yet more troubling communicational context is the sexual one, that is Song, in fact a Chinese male masquerades himself as a Chinese woman. Consequently, the deception is based on gender, not on race and the position of the producer and receiver changes since it is Gallimard, who initiates the communication. It is noteworthy, that Song and Gallimard meet at the German ambassador's residence. It can be concluded that Song could not have directly planned to meet him there, that is, it was a chance encounter partially supported by a Chinese theatrical custom of men acting in the role of women. It is possible that Song was sent with a mission of spying, or gathering intelligence data from foreign diplomats, but the source of the coveted information could have been any diplomat, and 103