Gysselle Moyao

Professor Batty

English 102

3 November 2018

Limitations of Gender and Race

The literary works ​M Butterfly ​by David Henry Hwang and ​The Left Hand of Darkness

by Ursula K. Le Guin introduce different ways in which they are able to be read and analyzed.

One of the main concepts that can easily be seen in both works is Queer theory. Both the play

and the novel raise several arguments and points about gender and sexuality that it seems that

Queer Theory is the most logical lens to view these through. When the concepts of gender and

sexuality are raised in the play and novel we can also associate them to our normal lives because

of the fact that they have been clashing factors in our present day society and also impacts our

personal views on societal norms. Both works provide a different theme regarding sexuality and

gender specifics.

David Henry Hwang and Ursula K. Le Guin both introduce their views about

gender/sexuality and race differently. Hwang treats the issue of gender/sexuality by introducing

the role that Song plays as controversial still within the very characters. The role of Butterfly can

also be another way in which gender and sexuality is treated since Gallimard ends up wanting to

take the role of Butterfly, despite it being the total opposite of what he had fantasized about. Le

Guin on the other hand introduces sexuality/gender and race as a more open minded proposition.
The whole novel consists of gender being a big factor along with the wanted inclusivity of other

races from different planets. It offered an approach that was more open minded and accepted.

A more in depth explanation about the way gender and race are represented in ​M

Butterfly ​is Song and Rene Gallimard being the main representation of normalized fetishisized

gender roles. Gallimard is assumed to take on the role of the white western man that gets the

oriental submissive woman. It is seen immediately in Act One, Scene Six where Song responds

to Gallimard with, “Song: It’s one of your favorite fantasies, isn’t it? The submissive Oriental

woman and the cruel white man” (Hwang 17) and this is said immediately after Gallimard sees

Song portray the role of Butterfly and takes on his notion about Butterfly’s death. He lets us

know when he says, “Gallimard: Of her death. It’s a . . . a pure sacrifice. He’s unworthy, but

what can she do? She loves him . . . so much. It’s a very beautiful story” (Hwang 17).

However, as the play nears an end we are faced with the realization that Rene Gallimard

is not fulfilling the role he set himself to fulfill and neither is Song. M Butterfly turned out to be

Monsieur Butterfly since Song was a man all along and ended up taking a dominant role since he

was doing the deceiving and controlling actions. The fact that Song was secretly a man led us to

question whether he was doing it for the sole purpose of his role or if he actually wanted to cross

dress and if he had real feelings for Gallimard. Also, towards the end of the play, Gallimard is

ready to dismiss Song altogether but Song begins to feel the rejection from Gallimard and tries to

sell himself again as the Butterfly he once agreed to be to Gallimard. We see this when Song

says, “ I’m your Butterfly. Under the robes, beneath everything, it was always me. Now, open

your eyes and admit it- you adore me” (Hwang 89). This was definitely a moment where it was

able to be observed that Song was conflicted with her sexual identity because he found himself
troubled when Rene Gallimard was letting go of him. Sex and gender issues are seen in M

Butterfly as troubled topics that are controversial and unaccepted in the play’s society.

The gender/sexuality and race issues in ​The Left Hand of Darkness ​are not as

straightforward as the ones in ​M Butterfly​ as they raise many questions as to how they are

treated. Many of the topics presented in ​The Left Hand of Darkness​ would not have been even

thought about or accepted in ​M Butterfly​. ​The topic about gender is very prominent throughout

the entire novel since most of it consists of a genderless race known as the Gethenians. This is

made known in Chapter 1 when Ai mentions, “ 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 as a

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

(Le Guin 12). There is a more open minded view in this novel because it brings up the what ifs

about gender and sexuality in a mainstream society yet it is still seen as a barrier.

In the novel, we know that Ai is male and we view most of the novel through his

standpoint. It also makes readers to delve into the subject about gender since Gethenians are a

genderless society and it allows the reader to shift their views in order to understand the story

more, treating the issue as a mundane topic as it is in everyday life on Gethen. In the article

Exorcising Gender: Resisting Readers in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness​ by John

Pennington, he mentions how the novel itself “forces” the reader to get into the mindset of an

androgynous person when he says, “ In other words, the novel forces readers to become

androgynous readers: readers are asked to resist reading from any gendered perspective. The

result of such a request is to keep the reader continuously off guard and unsettled, mirroring

Genly Ai's predicament in the novel, as he is forced to confront gender from his own limited
perspective.” It can be inferred that Le Guin felt that she needed the reader to view this from an

androgynous perspective for them to understand the book and the topic about how there is no

gender.

The idea about what is left in someone when they are not either male or female is raised

which in all can be a way to open a reader’s mind about the idea of androgyny instead of the

reader already knowing what they are used to based from societal factors. In Pennington’s

article, he captures Le Guin’s reasoning as to why she created androgynous characters like the

Gethenians, “According to Le Guin, she created the Gethens as a "heuristic device, a thought

experiment": "I eliminated gender, to find out what was left. Whatever was left would be

presumably, simply human. It would define the area that is shared by men and women alike"

(159) If, as she claims, she "eliminated gender," then why do so many readers find it in the

novel? One answer is quite simple: because male and female readers cannot escape their own

gendered perspectives conditioned by society”. The part where he mentions that females and

males are accustomed to the gender perspectives brought upon by society makes it clear that

despite the inclusivity to new thought from the novel, the issue of gender is still treated by a way

to enlighten a new way of thinking when it comes to social gender norms.

Sexuality and gender topics in both works promote hierarchical binary oppositions like

hetero and homosexuality as well as Western and Oriental. It is first seen immediately in ​M

Butterfly​ when Gallimard approaches Song and asks her to be his Butterfly. Again we see the

different approach of the Western and Oriental topic and how it is approached. In ​Hsiao-hung

Chang​’s article ​Cultural/Sexual/Theatrical Ambivalence in M. Butterfly ​he clarifies and enhances

what is going on in the play when he wrote, “​As a play intended to "link imperialism, racism and
sexism" (Savran 127), ​M. Butterfly​ successfully enacts a process of "gendering" imperialism by

combining two systems of domination: the West over the East and men over women”. It allows

us to come to the realization that binary oppositions like the Western and Oriental are still

applicable to today. Gallimard’s fantasy with a submissive Oriental woman is seen throughout

the play and captures it accurately. The gender roles are also seen within the same scenario by

Rene Gallimard wanting to take on the role of the dominant white man over the oriental

submissive woman. Lastly it can even be said that there is a race situation that diminishes the

origins from people in third-world countries. Song establishes this even when she says in the

play, “ Song: Basically, "Her mouth says no, but her eyes say yes." The West thinks of itself as

masculine--big guns, big industry, big money--so the East is feminine--weak, delicate, poor ...

but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom--the feminine mystique.Her mouth says no, but

her eyes say yes. The West believes the East, deep down, wants to be dominated--because a

woman can't think for herself (83)” as a reinforcement to the reader that people are lessened

because of where they come from to the Western man.

In addition to the ​hierarchical​ in ​M Butterfly​, it seems as though gender and race issues

go hand in hand. The article ​M. Butterfly ​by Angela Pao reiterates this idea when she says, “It

has been argued, for instance, that M. Butterfly continues to promote an exoticized view of East

Asia as well as the perception that Asians are devious, manipulative, and cunning. Reactions

broke down to a large extent along gender lines.” Fetishized gender roles continued to be a

​ hen they were intended to be invalidated by Song when she

leading issue in ​M Butterfly w

reminds Gallimard of how the Japanese viewed the play compared to that of a Westerner.
 The same ideology regarding gender can be noticed in ​The Left Hand of Darkness ​when

Genly Ai is introduced to the Gethenians and he notices that they are not like him. Genly Ai

encounters grand difficulty in adapting to the Gethenians’ androgynous ways since he is

portrayed as a straight masculine male amongst the whole genderless planet. In an article from

Michigan State University, the author mentions how Genly Ai is not able to trust other characters

for that sole purpose: “The fact that they are gender neutral for all but a few days a month

confuses him and this is an issue he discusses in several places in the book. On page twelve, he is

sitting with Estraven and thinking about the fact that he is having difficulty seeing him as he is

and then seeing him as an actual man or woman. He discusses how Estraven’s efforts and

performance at the table had been very feminine, and yet, he did not see him as a woman.” The

confusion he encounters makes it difficult for him to fulfill his mission as he is not accustomed

to the androgynous norms in Gethen. It also represents the ongoing issues that are seen today

where the LGBTQ community are still not widely accepted by everyone.

Overall, it can be observed through both works that Queer theory was a suitable lens to

compare and analyze due to the fact that both contribute gender/sexuality and race issues as the

prime objective. Both texts make the reader realize how it can be difficult or unfitting to view

gender topics outside of social standards as accepted or ordinary. It is a reminder about how

social constructs are powerful enough to guide someone or the majority of people in a society

that it only strengthens the fact that humans are very gender oriented.
 Works Cited

Chang, Hsiao-hung. "Cultural/Sexual/Theatrical Ambivalence in M. Butterfly." Contemporary

Literary Criticism, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter, vol. 196, Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center

Hwang, David Henry. ​M. Butterfly.​ New York, N.Y. (440 Park Ave. South, New York 10016) :

Dramatists Play Service, 1988. Print.

Le, Guin U. K. ​The Left Hand of Darkness​. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2004. Print

Pao, Angela. "M. Butterfly." Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter, vol.

196, Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center,

http://library.lavc.edu:2102/apps/doc/H1100061266/GLS?u=lavc_main&sid=GLS&xid=7e4930

70. Accessed 6 Nov. 2018.

Pennington, John. "Exorcising Gender: Resisting Readers in Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of

Darkness." Extrapolation, vol. 41, no. 4, 2000, p. 351. Literature Resource Center,

http://library.lavc.edu:2102/apps/doc/A68704463/GLS?u=lavc_main&sid=GLS&xid=14112b65.

Accessed 5 Nov. 2018.

Gender and Sex Roles in Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. Retrieved from

https://msu.edu/~skoutela/resp3.html