Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach and David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly are very different works of literature. Monkey Beach is a supernatural fiction novel while M. Butterfly is a drama play. Both works of literature also have different settings and storyline. One thing that they have in common is the depiction of women of ethnic/race minorities. Although women of ethnic/race minorities in both Monkey Beach and M. Butterfly are similar in terms of stereotype, they have differences and react differently towards the stereotype.
The first similarity on the issue of women of ethnic/race minorities is that the women in both stories are stereotyped as weak by the society. In M. Butterfly, oriental women are described as weak and submissive. Gallimard himself tries to find oriental woman, the Butterfly, because he thinks oriental women are submissive to the white men and need white men’s arms to keep them safe. In Madame Butterfly inside the M. Butterfly play, Cio-Cio-San, a Butterfly, is the example of weak and submissive oriental women. When Pinkerton left her forever, she commits suicide. Similarly, Haisla women in Monkey Beach are considered weak as well.…show more content… Butterfly are considered as sex object by the society, especially the men of ethnic/race majorities. In Monkey Beach, Haisla women are stereotyped as prostitutes, as stated by Aunt Trudy to Lisa. They are born to be a prostitute for white men and nothing they can do to change the stereotype. Likewise, oriental women in M. Butterfly are described as sex object. Cio-Cio-San of Madame Butterfly is described as a Japanese woman that you can buy with one hundred yen. Basically by having the butterfly one can do anything to her, and that is why white men are after oriental women butterfly. Gallimard, who fantasise having his own butterfly, also thinks that oriental women are only to be used to have sex