Social Darwinism in the Orient Every living thing is a sort of imperialist, seeking to transform as much as possible of its environment

into itself. This statement, made by Bertrand Russell, associates to David Henry Hwangs implied definition of imperialism. In his play, M. Butterfly, imperialism is the attractive force between two different cultures, usually ending with the stronger of the two conquering the weaker. Throughout the play, his definition of imperialism intertwines with racism and sexism. Hwang uses characters he designed to express elegantly his views on imperialism and how domination of a people interconnects to sexism and racism. His voices (displayed by the diverse characters in the play) range from representing his most extreme Asian point of view to his most extreme Western point of view. Hwang theorizes that the imperialist countrys culture forces itself onto the culture of the colony, resulting in different kinds of assimilations made by the colony to the new culture. Whenever the conquered native surrenders and submits himself to the conqueror, a very feminine response in itself, he is considered a good native, but when he fights against it, he is considered a rebel. Hwangs theory is very precise, but is limited and Orientally-specific. His theory can relate to other events such as wars, prostitution and the sweatshop systems used specifically in the third world. His theory is similar to the theory called Social Darwinism. This imperialistic theory not only delegitimizes a sovereign nation, but also dehumanizes women and whole races. The concept of survival of the fittest found in natural surroundings integrates to the social dimension, creating the theory called Social Darwinism. The theory, personally, sounds right out of fascist pamphlet, promoting such things as eugenics, racism, and the justification to rule conquered territories of the natives. Sound familiar? Thats because Hwang subliminally inserted this play, but about the race and culture hes most familiar with. Darwin himself,

although not the direct creator of this theory, prophesied that, At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world (Bannister, 180). The word exterminate tells us he expected the powerful race to rule the world and the subordinate race to die out. That did not happen, but the territorial conquests we historically know occurred in imperialistic times saw the European powers exterminate the natives from their land. Social Darwinists believe that the colonialism of natives was for their own good. Unfortunately, peoples belief in Social Darwinism still exists in todays world even after it caused numerous wars, including both World Wars, the Holocaust, and the Japanese Expansionism in Asia. The theory has transformed from territorial and missionary expansion into an industrial and economically-interested occupation. Although the latter form of occupation was present back in colonial times, it was only to a minor extent compared to modern forms. Social Darwinism connects to Hwangs definition of imperialism, specifically the Wests rape mentality introduced in the text by Song. We first see Hwangs definition of imperialism play out in the first act, scene 8, when Gallimard returns to the opera house where Song performs. Song spots Gallimard in the crowd and asks him if he is an adventurous imperialist? and Gallimard unconfidently responds, I thought it would further my education (Hwang, 21). This exemplifies how the White man is viewed in China and how Gallimard, representing imperialism (for now), is attracted to the submissive culture. There are many types of imperialisms, and Gallimard exemplifies the exploratory branch of it. The term rape mentality, which first appears in the text when Songs trial is being held, can be interpreted as another definition of imperialism by Hwang. Song tells the judge her definition of rape mentality is: The West thinks of itself as masculine-big guns, big industry, big money so the East is feminine weak, delicate, poor Her mouth says no,

but her eyes say yes. The West believes the East, deep down, wants to be dominated. You expect Oriental countries to submit to your guns, and you expect Oriental women to be submissive to your men (83). Songs statement is very powerful because it summarizes how the colonizing power treats the colonized, connecting it into the social lives of the colonized nation. This is the first time we see the connection between imperialism, racism and sexism in the play. The first time we really hear Hwangs voice (from Songs dialogue with the judge). Hwangs views on the connection between imperialism, racism and sexism are plainspoken in the afterword of the book. Hwang begins his afterword by stating that the international affair the book is based on was inevitable considering the misunderstanding and the differences between cultures in the East and West. Hwang gives an example of a quote the real French diplomat gave in The New York Times after the diplomat was asked if he never noticed it was a man he had an affair with, and he responds I thought she was very modest. I thought it was a Chinese custom (94). This statement has racist and sexist factors in it. The stereotype that specifically Chinese women are modest means that all Chinese women are subordinates to the dominant force, in this case, the diplomat. A good example of the subordinate stereotype comes when Marc discovers Gallimard has cheated on his wife with a local woman. Gallimard thinks that being foreign renounces the chance any Oriental woman will ever fall in love with him. Marc, an extraverted chauvinist, tells Gallimard that, she must surrender to you. It is her destiny (25). In other words, Marc tells Gallimard that thats the only aspiration an Oriental woman has, to give up her life to the White man. He collectively labels a whole race and women of that race as possessing that custom. Hwang tells us next that he understands that this stereotype is completely false, where Asian women are not more reserved than any other women in other parts of the world he is familiar with. As Hwang proves next, the connection between

imperialism, racism and sexism are not knotted down specifically to political and international affairs, but have leaked onto popular culture. Asian women stereotyped portrayals make repeated appearances in film. Films between the 1950's and the 1960's often depicted Asian women as lustrous, evil goddesses with slanted eyes and scheming ways, or on the opposite, smiling, submissive and obedient. By showing Asian women as only sexual beings, these movies objectified these characters. Hwang adds that these women "are those who serve the White protagonist in his battle against her own people, often sleeping with him in the process" (99). During World War II, the Japanese military sexually enslaved many Eastern women, creating the euphemism comfort women. These women were captured from China, Korea and Japan to sleep with soldiers who had returned from long battles. A clear demonstration of the connection between imperialism, in this case the army as the conquering body, and sexism, the women abducted and drafted into the military for pure pleasure. Hwang names more films exemplifying the roles Asian women play in films. Another example can be found in the movie The World of Suzie Wong. Based in Hong Kong, Robert Lomax, an aspiring artist, moves into a cheap hotel where he meets Suzie, a prostitute who falls desperately in love with him. Lomax refuses to return her love, and being on a limited budget, he becomes possessive of her, unwilling to share her. According to Renee Tajima, two more stereotypes can be added to Asian women in film: The Lotus Blossom Baby who is often an American mans gift and the devious Dragon Lady. A good woman was connected to passivity (Lotus Blossom) and a bad woman with deception (Dragon Lady) (28, Jameson and Armitage). Continuously in films Asian women have two depictions: being nave and hopeless or untrustworthy and devious. The roots for these stereotypes can be traced back to imperialistic times, where the Far East was colonized by European countries like the Netherlands, Portugal,

Spain, France and Britain and was a war-ridden region in the 20th century. These colonies established views on the natives, treating them as inferior or in need of an empire's care. Asian cultural stereotype historically roots itself to Western colonization of Asian countries, appearing in colonized nations in South America and Africa, particularly. Conquerors don't distinguish between two completely different nationalities. They assume the natives and other people of the same region relate based on similar facial shapes, languages and other features, not realizing that the two compared populations are unalike. Racism or collective labeling comes to mind. Gallimard, the main character of the play, demonstrates them. In one instance, he first meets Song performing Puccini's opera, convinced by her performance as the Japanese Butterfly (17). His mistaking of Song as Japanese and not Chinese is ironical with him being a French diplomat in China. One might even call them adversaries after the horrors the Japanese had done to the Chinese people, demonstrated brutally in the 2007 film Nanking. If a diplomat, a person responsible for representing his country on a foreign one cannot make the distinction, who should make this distinction? His ignorance gives the West a bad name. Another historical trivial example occurred when Christopher Columbus discovered America and called the natives, who were Native Americans, Indians. The "they are all the same, give or take" belief Gallimard possesses of the "Orientals" still lives modernly and daily on foreigners in this country. These labels and stereotypes constantly appearing throughout the text may hurt the feelings of Asian and White readers, as they feel typified. But instead of hurting the White and Asian characters in the play, which has the readers from his or her own race identify with its corresponding representative in the play, they are used for gain by them, as a reason or a legitimacy to perform acts they would never execute in other situations, consequently breaking

the ethic of reciprocity. This is evident when Marc states that, We dont have to be respectful. Were foreign devils (25). Marc explains to Gallimard that the stereotype of being the foreign devil allows the foreigners to behave in disrespectful ways, in this case, glancing at Songs apartment window. Another statement, made by Pinkerton about the marriage in the Far East, summarizes how the White devils actions are legitimate in the Far East, but they would never happen in his birthplace. Pinkerton excitingly responds to Sharpless that, you know the laws, right? I split for one month, its annulled! (6). These characters believe that because they are in a foreign country, where the marriage laws are different than what they are accustomed to, they have the privilege to make a mockery of them. But not only the foreigners in this play use stereotypes to their advantage, the locals do too. Song exhibits submissiveness in her behavior when Gallimard first enters her apartment (27-29), even though it is later proven that she had done it to pull information from Gallimard. In other words, Song uses the stereotypes in her advantage. Hwangs designation to make the stereotypes backfire the way they did suggests he is trying to teach the reader a little something about prejudices made by everyone. There will always be a person validating and justifying the stereotypes and treatment of a population he finds different, triggering him to also defend the subjugation of these people into slavery, oppression, and their final eradication. One very bold example is J.A. Hobson, an English economist. Hobson maintains that, It is desirable that the earth should be peopled, governed, and developed, as far as possible, by the races which can do this work best, i.e. by the races of highest social efficiency; these races must assert their right by conquering, subjugating, or extinguishing races of lower social efficiency (154-155). Hobsons ideas vindicate sweatshops and natural resource robberies from politically rotten and unstable countries by modern-day empires because the weak countries are the races of lower social

efficiency. Hobson obviously supports the Social Darwinism theory, the one emerging from the contextual situations in Hwangs play. There are many examples, even in the modern world, how destructive imperialism mentality can be. Nowadays, even multi-national corporations have an imperialistic mentality, establishing sweatshops, not coincidentally denser in South America and the Far East, where labor is cheap and human life is undervalued by the confining force. The concept of Social Darwinism takes the "survival of the fittest" concept into society. Combined with racism, you believe your culture is the fittest, so you have no fears with suppressing the indigenous culture. Racists believe in their race superiority and other races are inferior. This supports imperialism, since they believe that the land of other populations needs to adapt to their better culture, even if it means forcing them to adopt your customs and working cheap labor to produce goods for your country. Also, racism justifies the continued subjugation of the people under control, where they are inferior and need controlling. Through imperialism, a nation tries to overtake another nation and impose its values and ideas on that nation. Therefore, all original culture is thought to be primitive and wrong. Hwangs definition of imperialism, although very specific to the East, has these thoughts sown into the main theme of the play.