Twists and Turns

M. Butterfly is full of plot twits that rearrange and redefines what it means to be feminine east and masculine west.  The ending with the white male commiting suicide over a love that was never real puts him in the place of a Japanese woman who commits suicide over the loss of her westurn man. Butterfly’s acting as a female Japanese singer in opera and plays blinded Rene. The quote “ Only a man knows how a woman should act,” spoken by Butterfly foreshadows to the truth about Butterfly. Butterfly was able to trick Rene because he knows what a man wants and how to please a man. Butterfly also uses stereotypes and the myths of Chinese and Japanese cultures to trick Rene. Butterfly also knew that René was ignorant in the ways of the Chinese and Japanese using it to his advantage to deceive him with the passive Asian woman who will submit to the wild, rough, exotic western man. He also uses the card that all Asians are traditional and will not show their body unless married. Because Butterfly was able to hide his body under all of the cloths that Asian woman wore, and the “pure Asian modesty” Butterfly was able to hide his true body and keep his cloths on and not reveal himself. Because René is so uneducated on Chinese and Japanese customs, he fell for it when butterfly said that she had to go back to her village to give birth.  But I do not understand how he fell for the “I am pregnant” trick if they never really had traditional sex. That is a ruse that people still use today. In the beginning, Butterfly warns him and lectures Rene about the ways of the orient and how arrogant the west is. Butterfly tries to educate René but he does not listen. I feel that it is Karma because René had this extremely racist arrogant attitude after Butterfly pretends to love him. If he had listened to Butterfly in the beginning would he have fallen for this trick? Butterfly tries to educate him on customs and beliefs yet his words are lost. In the end when Rene commits suicide, putting him in place of a grief stricken women who commits suicide is the role that suits him. He looked like a fool in court when Butterfly told him that he was a man the jury looked at him like he was crazy. He submitted to Butterfly’s trick enough that he was sad when he found out that perfect woman when it was false. He was in love then had his heart ripped out. So what else was he to do feeling so upset? Rene is a submissive feminine Asian woman in the tragic opera plays of the sorrow stricken women who committing suicide.