Differences Between the East and the West

M Butterfly by Davis Henry Hwang really distinguishes some of the strongest differences between the nations of the east and the nations of the west.  Throughout the whole play, he uses this theme of nations and nationality to portray these significant breaches.

One of the strongest differences between the two was the difference in the way that the women were portrayed.   Even in Act One, Hwang writes that Cio-Cio-San (also known as Butterfly) was “not like American girls.  It’s true what they say about Oriental girls.  They want to be treated bad!” (Act 1, Scene 3, p.6).  There is already this description of Oriental and Eastern women being different and wanting different things than the Western women. 

Later on in Act One, Song Liling is talking with Rene Gallimard about her (his) role in Butterfly.  Gallimard was thoroughly impressed and was talking to her about his Western experience with the play.   But once he brings up that his problem was with the unattractive Western woman who played the part, Song responds by saying, “Bad makeup is not unique to the West” (Act 1, Scene 6, p.16).  Here again, Hwang casually suggests another difference between Eastern and Western women, and he continues on in that scene as he writes about their conversation.  Gallimard is simply more convinced by Song’s performance, and Song blames it all on Gallimard’s Western background.

At the end of the play, he writes, “The West think 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” (Act 3, Scene 1, p.83).  Hwang also portrays that very idea of the Western nations being more “masculine” and the Eastern nations as being more “feminine” throughout the whole play, and not just as the end.

In both Acts One and Two, Hwang uses Toulon’s character to defend that very point.  Starting in Act One, in Scene 12, Toulon says in conversation with Gallimard, “It’s embarrassing that we lost Indochina” (p.37).  Toulon’s arrogance really stands out and represents a lot of the Western mentality that felt that they were so much bigger and stronger than those in the East.  In Scene 3, Toulon also says to Gallimard, “I don’t see how the Vietnamese can stand up to American firepower” (p.46).   Here again, Toulon simply believes that Americans and the Western world should not struggle at all in taking down the Vietnamese and Eastern countries in the war they are fighting.