M. Butterfly by David H. Hwang

David H. Hwang’s M. Butterfly focuses on the turbulent relations between the West and the East and how each side perceives the other. Rene Gallimard and his views towards Song Liling could be taken to show the East vs. West relationship in a more metaphorical sense. On pg. 16 Gallimard, fresh from his encounter with Song, mused about wanting to “take her in my arms—so delicate, even I could protect her, take her home, pamper her until she smiled.” Similarly, the nations of the West feel almost an obligation to “civilize” the rest of the world; Rudyard Kipling coined the idea with the term, “The White Man’s Burden.” The Spanish brought their missionaries to colonize and convert the natives of the Americas; the British felt it was their duty to educate the Indians of Asia and the indigenous folk of the Africa’s with their rules and regulations. Then there were also the French and Belgians and Portuguese who staked their claims in various regions of Asia and Africa in order to manipulate the trade routes to their advantage and to “save the souls” of the savages. As Gallimard wants to protect and care for Song, the powerful Western nations strive to act as the guardians and protectors of the third world countries, many located in Asia. However, this police force attitude could easily be taken with negative overtones. The British, French and other imperialistic nations obviously had ulterior motives; the ability to control a country’s leaders gave them access to the resources available there, be it oil or advertising markets or manpower. Gallimard also had a motive with Song even if he may not have realized it; Song was the only person that he had power over, who could keep him happy. As Gallimard himself said, “While we men may all want to kick Pinkerton, very few of us would pass up the opportunity to be Pinkerton.” Power is something that very few people would give up, let alone wealthy countries.

The Importance of the Internet

Gibson’s world in Pattern Recognition seems to revolve around the Internet and web-based forms of communication. The plot of the story even stems from Casey’s obsession with the videos. One of the first things she does at the beginning of the novel is log on to Fetish:Footage:Forum. Stella, the sister of the creator, Nora, of those aforementioned videos, uses the internet to broadcast her sister’s brilliant works, attracting the minds and souls of millions of people worldwide, one of them Casey. How does Casey get sucked into tracking down the maker in the first place? Through the posts she added to F:F:F, which Bigend tracked and used to his advantage. Casey even finds a vital piece of information regarding the watermarked footage in an email from Parkaboy, her contact through F:F:F, who in turn received it from another email. Casey was able to obtain a map of codes from Taki, through a meeting setup via email. Furthermore, Hobbs-Baranov, a mathematician previously employed by the government, used the Echelon search engine to decipher the map and retrieve the email address of Stella and Nora. Finally, Casey contacted Stella and was able to meet Nora and watch her work, all through an impromptu email. However, Andrei Volkov and his accomplices first became aware of Casey because of her post on the footage forum.  It was also because of the internet that Dorotea was able to keep track of Casey and terrorize her with stuffed Bibendums. The internet was how Boone could hack into Casey’s account and read all her emails, causing his relationship with her to disintegrate.

Obviously, the internet and its many applications played a major part in the story. First of all, Casey was able to communicate with people from all four corners of the earth and form connections with some of them that later was to her advantage. F:F:F was more than an online social networking site; it was where people of similar interests could expand their ideas and thoughts and create theories that would be tested due to difference of opinions. It was where she “met” Parkaboy, and her relationship with him lasted for the length of the story and even went to the next level. Casey’s list of contacts increased through F:F:F; she was able to encounter more people through it than she would have if she never had a computer. In fact, if she did not have Damien’s Cube or her Blue Ant issued iBook, her search for the maker would have been fruitless. She probably would have neither seen nor heard of the videos in the first place.  

The internet does have its downsides. The break-in at Damien’s apartment, the nose-cracking escapade, the drug-induced dream and the anxiety that Cayce experiences throughout the novel could all have been avoided if she had not posted about Russian mafias on F:F:F. Also, Dorotea as Mama Anarchia was able to track Casey’s moves through what she posted on the forum or other illegal means. Every post gives insight to her nature. Another point is that total identities can be concealed. Casey never expected Dorotea and Mama Anarchia to be the same individual. The Internet could be appropriately compared to a coral reef in the ocean; sure there is a lot of free space and life but once in a while, a few predatory sharks can be lurking around the corner.