Stereotypes In Literature

Throughout life, society has predetermined stereotypes that are based on ideal norms that influence each person from the minute they are born. During the mid 1900’s, gender was not questioned and racism was heightened in America, which lead for much of literature to go with typical norms. When Toni Morrison wrote “Recitatif” and David Henry Hwang came out with the play “M. Butterfly”, they both pulled ideas from out of the box to create literature which had yet to be written about. For instance, a scene in “M. Butterfly” compares to two scenes in “Recitatif”, both displaying common stereotypes while dissecting the nature of how they counteract everyday norms of race and gender roles. Two scenes in “Recitatif” show how Morrison never reveals
Butterfly” deconstructs stereotypical assumptions about different genders. The play “M. Butterfly”, written more modernly in 1988, is a representation of the unspoken truths of stereotypes which fall between men and women. In Act III, Scene I, the reader learns Song’s ultimate plan and her twenty year “performance” of acting as a woman to deceive Gallimard. While in court, Song denounces exactly how she was able to act like the feeble woman that western man, Rene Gallimard, wanted her to be. The idea Song proposes to the court was how Gallimard’s nationality defines what he wants to see in a woman. One point Song makes is that Gallimard believes women are gentle and submissive, made to have children and stay home. Not only does Gallimard conclude it is her gender which makes Song weak, but also her coming from the East, as an Oriental. It is portrayed frequently how weak the East is, so even if Song wanted to, he “could never completely be a man” because he was an Oriental (Hwang 83). Stereotypically, the West is associated with masculinity and violence, where the East is said to be more feminine and delicate. In the court scene, Song states that the West has a “rape mentality” towards the East. She defines this as “Her mouth says no, but her eyes say yes” (83). It is as if the defenseless women of the East need to be dominated by a stereotypical big, strong, Western man. All along, Gallimard wanted dominance over Song and expected her to follow the gender roles of a housewife and mother. In the end, the reader learns it is Song who has the upper hand on Gallimard and has dominated him for decades. However, David Henry Hwang also subverts norms by choosing an undercover, transvestite protagonist. According to Performance and Perception, “transsexuals, transvestites and cross-dressers “make visible what culture has made invisible, that is: the accomplishment of gender” (Saal 635). In the