As an oriental beautiful lady, Song and Cho-Cho-San are kind of like. Both of them are growing under the similar oriental culture. Not only the oriental society puts them and all other women down than man; but also they follow the traditional training and innocently grow to be slaves for man. Both of them are weak oriental women who need to be protected. Within the background of the opera, Song’s well done of the acting and singing brings out the spirit of the character who known as “Butterfly”. Meanwhile, the characters of Cho-Cho-San add Song the oriental weak and tragic beauty. Through Song’s acting, Gallimard feels more the spirits of Cho-Cho-San. Moreover, he finds himself more form Song, because he thinks that he had found his perfect woman who he can love and who he can protect as he can protect the butterfly from the classical tragical opera.
Because of the background of the opera, Madame Butterfly; because of Song’s well acting on Cho-Cho-San; because of Song’s good pretending, finally Gallimard falls in love with Song, and he trusts his own love. He lives with Song and he even believes that Song has bore a boy for him. After their separating in China and back together in Paris, for his perfect woman and his loving son, he spies for China. However, how he could image that his perfect woman, who he has loving for 20 years, is a man? At the end, he is arrested and is sent to a court where he just gets to know that Song is a man. After the court, when he is arrested with Song in a same jail, he does not have any courage to face Song’s body. He does not want to realize that his love one, his butterfly is a man. For so many years he lives with his own imagination.
At the beginning, Gallimard believes that Song is his butterfly who is weak and tragic oriental woman; Song is a perfect woman to him; Song needs his love and protection; Song needs to be saved. Nevertheless, 20 years later he finds that he only loves and lives with his own imagination for so many years. He finally finds that he is the real tragic role in his real life. He never finds his love, and he is utilized. He is the real tragic one, the tragic butterfly.
As the story goes to the end, Gallimard finds he is the real tragic butterfly, but how about Song? Does Song still proud with his pretending? (He was ever proud with his successful acting. After he getting Gallimard’s trust and let him to believe that he has pregnant for Gallimard, he said the reason for why for the oriental opera always male acts being female is because male know female will how to react with male.) In so many years, does Song even feel love with Gallimard? When he is arrested back to China, what is from his eyes when he sits in the plane and knows that at that time Gallimard was faced the punishments for his spying? At that moment what will be in his mind or what he would think about his life? Is “Life is like a drama, and drama is like life.” the only sentence he could think about in his mind?
3 comments:
Hey Feng,
I liked your blog, it is very interesting, especially the questions that you posted up. It really shows that you understood the book fully. I liked the fact that you included what the butter fly symbolized to Gallimard and that in the end he came to the conclusion that he is his own butterfly and his own tragic death. All in all, nice blog and great questions for discussion. The questions really made me think about the story again.
Yaffa
I think you provided a very thorogh observtion of "M. Butterfly". You were able to include major key points that were discussed in the book and in class. i also like the fact that you included some points that were not discussed in class. The conclusion of your blog left readers in a sad and confusing feeling. You also left them in suspence and questioning how love can easily blind an individuals mentality.
Ruzanna Amram
The questions that you pose at the end of your review are very important. We can question whether Song truly loved Gallimard and if Song felt bad at all for leaving Gallimard to serve a prison sentence for something he was not fully to blame for. Even when watching the film adaptation, you cannot truly decipher the look upon Song's face as he is sitting on the plane, leaving Gallimard behind. We cannot tell if he is thinking of Gallimard, or if he is content in self-satisfaction. All in all this was a great review.
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