An Analysis On The Narrative Features In M. Butterfly

David Henry Hwang is considered as the most famous Asian American dramatist of the twentieth century. Born in Los Angeles, David Henry Hwang is the son of an immigrant Chinese American couple. By his senior year, he had written and produced his first play, F.O.B., which marked the beginning of his career as a playwright. In his drama, Hwang demonstrates more about the current conditions of Chinese Americans, their confusions, the contradictions caused by the clashes between Chinese traditions and American culture, etc.Produced on Broadway in 1988, M. Butterfly is considered as Hwang's masterpiece. The numerous awards for this play include the Outer Critics Circle Award for best Broadway play, the Drama Desk Award for best new play, the John Gassner Award for best American play, and the Tony Award for best play of the year. By this play, Hwang becomes the first Asian American to win the Tony Award for Best Play. By the end of 1988, Hwang had been regarded by many critics as the most talented young playwright in the United States. Some critics also consider that Hwang's M. Butterfly marks the success of Asian Americandrama.On the basis of the deconstruction of Puccini's famous opera Madam Butterfly, Hwang in his M. Butterfly describes the racial problem, the gender problem, contradictions and clashes between the Orient and the West, the Western hegemony and other issues which have earned much attention then. When talking about this play, Hwang has commented that he does not intend to use this play to verify whether it is the Orient could defeat the West, or vice versa. The original purpose that urges him to write this play is the hope that both sides could better understand each other and strengthen the communication. Both sides need to re-recognize themselves, and only in this way can they obtain a sound development.However, the debates about this play seem never to calm down. The uncanny plots, various themes, and the narrative features push M. Butterfly under the limelight. This dissertation, therefore, aims to make a tentative analysis about the narrative features shown in this play.This dissertation consists of three parts. The first part is the introduction, which offers a general idea about David Henry Huang and his M. Butterfly, with literature review about the studies on M. Butterfly. At last, this part points out that this dissertation attempts to analyze and study the narrative features of the play, which would enrich the interpretation of the play. The second part is composed of three chapters.Chapter One expounds the dramatist's control, which is concluded from Booth's terms of the control of distance, and the control of inside views. After the unreliable narration is analyzed, the emphasis is put upon the dramatist's control. Through the analysis on the dramatist's comprehensive application of narrative point of view, and the narrative techniques, it demonstrates how the dramatist has unfolded his control. Meanwhile, this chapter has also prepared for the analysis of the hegemony narrative. In addition, through the analysis of the extreme form of the unreliable narrative—narrative shipwreck, hegemony narrative is further expatiated.Chapter Two discusses separately three narrative marks, namely, the mirror, the knife and the image of Madam Butterfly, among which the main focus is on the mirror. On the basis of the analysis, it points out that those narrative marks reveal the truth, which the audience can rely on to avoid the narrative traps settled by the author.Chapter Three focuses on the analysis of four pairs whose narrating roles are reversed. The four pairs are Rene Gallimard and Renee, Gallimard and Marc, Madam Butterfly and Gallimard, and Helga Gallimard and the baby. Actually, the role-reversion appears more in feminist criticism, while in narratology, the reversion often refers to the subversion of narrative levels. This chapter lays the emphasis on the reversion of the narrating roles. Upon the discussion of these four pairs, this chapter further explores the hegemony narrative embodied in the perversion of narrating roles, especially in the aspect of gender, race, and the relation between the Orient and the West.And the last part of this dissertation is the conclusion. On the basis of the preceding analysis in the former chapters, this part further concludes the narrative features demonstrated in M. Butterfly, and the Western hegemony narrative embodied within. By this play, Hwang endeavours to reflect the Western hegemony narrative as it is. To explore this play from the perspective of narrative will enable people to better understand this play, as well as the dramatist's creative intention.To sum up, the analysis of the narrative features embodied in M. Butterfly indicates that Hwang not only exhibits an uncanny spy story which is based on a true event. What's more, by adopting various narrative techniques, he skillfully interprets the issues under discussion, especially the Western hegemony narrative over the Orient.Contemporarily, though the studies of the Chinese-American literature are fruitful in China, they mainly focus on the analysis of Chinese-American fictionists. In contrast, the studies on Chinese-American dramatists are far from satisfaction. With his M. Butterfly, Hwang won his fame in 1988, and established his position in American theatre as well. However, the Chinese-American drama is not much introduced to Chinese people; therefore, Hwang is not a household name in China. Although some critics have done research studies on Hwang and his drama, the achievements cannot be counted as fruitful. Most of those studies are confined to the analysis of Orientalism, racial problem, gender problem, etc. But the study about the narrative features of the play is quite rare. Thus the originality of this dissertation lies in the point that on the analysis of the narrative features contained within M. Butterfly, the Western hegemony narrative can thus be revealed.