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Evelyn Cornejo

Professor Batty

English 102

03 November 2018

How Queer Theory and Post colonialism play in part of gender identity and sexuality in ​Left

Hand Of Darkness a​ nd ​M.Butterfly

There are types of literature that consists of many aspects and influences in the world,

two of which would be Queer theory and post colonial theory. These theories are useful

because it makes the identification of stories much more interesting and educational. What is

Queer and post colonial theory you may ask? Queer theory is known as an umbrella term for

all aspects of different gender identities such as homosexual, transgender, bisexuality etc, It

was adapted in the early 20th century. Post-colonial theory focuses on the consequences of a

decolonization towards people and their lands. In this case, Left hand of darkness and M.

Butterfly share the similarity and difference of interpreting issues such as gender identity,

sexuality and post colonialism.

In David Henry Hwang’s play, ​M. Butterfly h​ e displays the issue of Gender identity and

sexuality through the mind of Rene Gallimard, this quote takes place towards the ending of the

play which gives Gallimard the moment to express his devastation towards the betrayal of his

butterfly no longer being his butterfly. Throughout the story he tries to prove himself as a man,

only to be accepted by other men such as Marc. He grieves a loss of love by

stating,“​Gallimard: Death with honor is better than life… life with dishonor.(He sets himself
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center stage, ina seppuku position) The love of a butterfly can withstand many things-

unfaithfulness, loss, even abandonment” (​ Hwang 92).

Many theories could be interpreted with this quote because Gallimard is grieving over the loss

of his lover and most importantly his own identity. He may have a realization of being bisexual,

therefore he deep down knows that he wouldn’t be accepted by his masculine friends and

society. He feels as if his sexuality is a dishonor as a western man. He reflects on his life

regretfully and to escape those tragic realizations, he kills himself.

In article named “Performing gender and fictions of the nation in David Hwang’s M.

butterfly,” written by Michelle Balaev, she explains how theories of gender and nationalism of

the East and West are combined in M.Butterfly. It summarizes how culture could define

identity, every culture has a script for gender stereotypes and avoiding aspects of what is not

acceptable for females or males. She explains how Gallimard was caught up to the idea of

becoming the man he has always felt to become because of outside influences that it has made

him feel scared to accept that Song’s gender was in fact, a man,“​Gallimard says that he was

afraid to find out Song’s sexual identity because it would mean that he was further away from

being a “real” man. In other words, real mean don’t love other men, or, rather in his

heterosexual matrix, a man loving another man is not a ‘real’ man” ​(Balaev 7).Balaev’s

concise viewpoint on Gallimard’s state of mind throughly sums up the idea that heterosexual

acts make a man instead of being a homosexual man. His idea of being masculine is making

another woman to desperately want him just like he thought Song wanted him. It puts him on a

pedestal and he clearly enjoys his pride since he has never really achieved the title of a “man.”
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Not only does this show his pride but it also shows his insecurity of not wanting to lose that

power as the fellow who did not catch up to others who considered themselves more of a man

than him (Marc). Gallimard desperately depends on gender stereotypes and forcefully puts

himself in a box of how a man should act or do according to the standards of society since it’s

a competition.

Post Colonial Theory is also mentioned in M.Butterfly because it interacts with cultures

in the West and East, it makes us question whether colonial France or China has the most

power. The play mentions stereotypical Eastern motives with culture, reversing right before our

eyes. Both Rene Gallimard and Song Liling are representations of colonial power because one

of them have more of the power than the other, therefore creating a colonial relationship,“​From

the very beginning of the play, Gallimard explicitly confessed that he is the colonizer and that

he wants to see the colonized in an inferior stance”(​ Sasani 10). After Gallimard expresses his

passion towards the play to Song, she bluntly faces him with how the storyline of the Oriental

woman that is dependent towards the cruel white man is one of his deepest fantasies. Rene is

seen as a colonizer who admits to underestimate people like Song. This relates to colonialism

because Song tried to find a way to get Gallimard’s attention to play pretend, but the purpose of

that was to do his/her job and a communist agent.

In Le Guin’s novel ​The Left Hand of Darkness ​also addresses the issue of gender and

sexuality because some characters that are introduced are Gethenians, they are described as

androgynous beings (genderless). Le Guin subverts hierarchical binary oppositions of

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male/female and hetero/homosexuality because in Gethen nothing is limited. However, one of

the characters who is considered as an alien is named Gently Ai, he is a human. Ai being the

traditional gender stereotypical man crashes into a planet that is genderless and creates curiosity

within him, he easily becomes confused with androgyny.

“I was still far from being able to see the people of the planet through their own eyes. I tried

to, but my efforts took the form of self consciously seeing a Gethenian first as a man, then as a

woman, forcing him into those categories so irrelevant to his nature and so essential to my

own”​(Le Guin 12).

Ai expresses his confusion, especially after trying to see things in their point of view rather than

his but has grown up with gender stereotypes of males and females. He understands that gender

in the Gethenian world is definitely unnecessary since no gender exists there, giving Ai the

thought that there was no reason for him to think the way he was thinking. Androgyny could be

difficult to understand, us as readers see the viewpoint of Ai because gender is everywhere

instead of this fictional planet. In Winter no one is defined by their gender

Left hand of Darkness​ addresses a unique viewpoint on sexuality because genderless

beings are attracted to anyone during the kemmering cycle, kemmer is what drives androgynous

Gethenians to reproduce and have the capacity to turn somehow into a woman or a man. Sexual

encountering during that time is crucial for them. Based on an article called ​Exorcising Gender:

Resisting Readers in Ursla k. Le guin’s Left Hand of Darkness ​written by John Pennington, “​As

an androgyne, Estraven is literally that shady area-that gap- where male and female readers

must resist their gendered reading, for Estraven is not sexless; he is genderless”​(Pennington
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355). As readers, we are alike to Ai because this is another world where gender and multiple

pronouns do not take place even though they can not be mentioned as “it.” Although Ai and

Estraven develop sexual tension, they did not counteract in a sexual relationship but it

developed a sense of compassion and friendship. The biological form of Gethenians are

genderless but they are not sexless because they function just like a female and male would

when the cue for reproduction multiplies. Unlike Hwang, Le Guin’s purpose is to abandon

gender stereotypes in the story to the imagination of us as readers to see what that would be

like.

Post Colonial theory is represented in ​Left Hand of Darkness​ because we understand

that there are different cultures/races who interact with one another as well as M.Butterfly.

Genly Ai was considered an alien and Estraven was one of the Gethenians. Genly Ai views the

gethenians as the “other,”which constructs some sort of binary that is heirarchical because of

different species and timing that the Gethenians have compared to the species and biological

timing that Ai is considered to have as one of the humans (aliens). According to

Postcolonialism/s, gender/s, sexuality/ies and the legacy of the Left Hand of Darkness​ written

by Wendy Gay Pearson, “​Thus, although The Left Hand of Darkness is not directly informed by

post colonial theory, it is informed by the very conditions and historical circumstances that

created both the postcolonial condition and the theory that attempts to explain and understand

it”​(Pearson 189). The point that Pearson is trying to inform is how the historical circumstances

in the book are creatively structured with legacies, non-chaotic wars and beliefs. Another huge

evidence to support this claim is how Ai gets captured by Orgoreynians who place him in a
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Kundershaden prison which was filled with Gethenian victims who were drugged and cruelly

examined (including him), not only does this provide how the Gethenians have been violated by

their own rights but they were also taken from their land. Orgoreyn and Gethen aren’t fond of

each other.

To conclude, both Le Guin and Hwang uniquely interpret issues of how sexuality and

gender within Self is accepted or rejected through the characters, post-colonialism plays a huge

part on both stories to combine with themes of betrayal, cruelty and discovery. ​The Left hand of

Darkness ​and ​M.Butterfly ​ share a similarity of finding out the characters true identity through

the adventures they encounter. The difference is the biological standpoint of the characters and

colonial issues. Overall, analyzing through these books have been challenging but an interesting

experience by viewing through the eyes of the main characters.

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Works Cited:

1)Sasani, Samira. “The Colonized (the other) and the Colonizer’s Response to the

Colonial Desire of ‘Becoming Almost the Same but Not Quite the Same’ in M.Butterfly.”

journal of Language Teaching and Research, no. 2, 2015, EBCOhost.

2)Balaev, Michelle. “Performing Gender and Fictions of the Nation in David Hwang’s

M. Butterfly.” Forum for World Literature Studies, no. 4, 2014, p. 608. EBSCOhost,

library.lavc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eds

3) PENNINGTON, JOHN. “Exorcising Gender: Resisting Readers in Ursula K. Le

Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness.” Extrapolation, no. 4, 2000. EBSCOhost,

library.lavc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eds

glr&AN=edsgcl.68704463&site=eds-live​.

4)Pearson, Wendy Gay. “Postcolonialism/s, gender/s, sexuality/ies and the legacy of the

Left Hand of Darkness: Gwyneth Jones’s Aleutians talk back.” Yearbook of English

Studies. July, 2007, Vol. 37 Issue 2, p182. EBSCOhost.

5)Hwang, David Henry. M. Butterfly. New York : New American Library, c1988., 1988.

EBSCOhost.
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6)Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness. New York : Ace Books, 2000, ©1969.,

2000. EBSCOhost.