Rene Gallimard anaylsis

Character Analysis Rene Gaillimard            

Rene Gallimard is a French diplomat who relates the story by his passionate and disastrous affair with Song Liling.  He is serving a long sentence for treason and tells his story from a jail cell in Paris France.  Gallimard falls in love with Song, whom he believes to be a woman, during his tenure as a diplomat in Beijing. Hapless and awkward, Gallimard is an unlikely candidate for the attentions of a beautiful woman. Knowing this, he treasures Song’s love, submissiveness, the feeling of masculine power, and pride it gives him. Gallimard has an attitude of benevolent condescension toward Asians, and particularly Asian women. The word condescension means an attitude of patronizing superiority. Gallimard is not arrogant or sexually aggressive, as are many of the Western men around him, but he is heavily influenced by the orientalist and imperialist ideas that pervade his culture. An orientalist is someone from the West who studies the language, culture, history, or customs of countries in eastern Asia. Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. He is particularly attached to a vision of Asian women as being modest, submissive, and unfalteringly devoted to their men. What I think of Gallimard, he is like a controlling person and will pestering you until he gets what he wants. In act 2 scene 13, He asks Song “Are you my butterfly?” Song says what are you saying?  Gallimard tells Song that he’s come for an answer and asks her a second time, are you my butterfly? Song tells him you should already know, but Gallimard wants her to say the words that she is his butterfly. Song begins to feel unsettled and then Gallimard mentions the letter that he wrote to her. In the letter Gallimard has given her his shame. Song says “stop”, then Gallimard says “Then what’s one more answer?”  Song doesn’t want to say the words until Gallimard asks her for a third time, “Are you my butterfly?” Song then gives in and says yes I am your butterfly. Finally, Gallimard got what he wanted, for Song to say “are you my butterfly.”