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

figure is brought forth and one of the reasons that Gallimard so readily accepts the projected image is that it conforms to his expectations. Also, Song's impersonation of a female suggests the subservient position of women within Asian society. The drama also focuses on the Othering process. The strategy chosen by an Other in this case a Chinese male, is to assume the guise of another Other to dislocate the Self. The drama at the same time shows that the Self s dominant position is not unquestioned as both Helga demanding a medical checkup to establish Gallimard's ability to sire children, thereby challenging his manhood, and Renee questioning the primary signifier of masculinity threaten his status. In light of the above Gallimard's willing and clear identification with the Other appears natural. Thus Gallimard is able to project his own insecurities on this character, thereby suggesting that the fragile, inhibited person presented by Song is a parallel of not Cho Cho San, but Gallimard himself. Gallimard also attempts to escape from his Historicized Self comprised of such images as "the person least likely to be invited to a party"(2824), and being a man troubled by an inferiority complex brought on by his affair with the assertive and aggressive Renee: "but is it possible for a woman to be too uninhibited, too willing, so as to seem almost too ...masculine?" (2850) Also, the Self is psychologically reinforced as the Western Man approaches the "lotus flower" of the East. Gallimard's "Being for Others," primarily a wayward European lost in Asia, receives a much needed boost as he initiates the relationship with Song anticipating this very type of behavior. The reversal of the post-colonial Self is completed at the climactic conclusion as Gallimard, faced with the legal consequences of the deception of his life, decides to assume the identity of Cho Cho San. While in Song's case a victimized, muted Other assumed the guise of a different subjugated Other, Gallimard, a representative of the dominant Self impersonates a marginalized Other. Having been confronted with the fact that Song is "So little like his Butterfly" (2864), Gallimard is forced to choose between fantasy and reality, and he settles for the former. The paradigm is turned around as the sexist and ethnocentric European ideology aimed at the East is now pointed at the West, and the victimizer becomes the victim with no other choice but death with honor. The stereotypes applied by the West to 105