Subject:  Re: Gallimard |
Author:
Azuka
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Date Posted: 01:51:23 02/21/01 Wed
In reply to:
Michelle
's message, "Re: Gallimard" on 20:55:40 02/20/01 Tue
On one hand, you conclude that Renee is promiscuous because she is forward with Gallimard. Since when does being forward imply being promiscuous? You said, "She basically throws herself at him, fully knowing that he is a married man. She doesn't even know his name yet she is willing to start an affair with him, merely based on a two minute conversation." If you remember Gallimard and Renee were in a conversation during the party at the Austrian embassy. Also, if you remember in the play, Rene had asked Gallimard if he was married before asking him to fool around with her. And it was her that asked for Gallimard's name after she made her offer. He did not bother to find out her name. I think you need to explain your notion of promiscuous. How do you define it?
During the course of their conversations, she asked Gallimard to fool around. Gallimard happily accepted. He did not have to. He was happily in love with Song (or his own fantasy). I think Renee may have been bored and Gallimard was at her expense for that and all the nights she wanted to have him. If you also remember, she tells Gallimard during their conversation, there is "Nothing to do at night (53)," and this might have been why she asked him that. Why is their such weight on Renee's action and not on Gallimard? Nobody told Gallimard to go home with her and he wanted to, to assure his manhood and to marvel at his own power, or what he thought was his power. Gallimard was riding on this new wave of confidence. It even got him a job, and things were going well with his love interest, and I believe that's why he had the affair because he wanted to, it got him praises from his boss, and it also proved his masculinity. I believe earlier in the play, his boss tells Gallimard, something to the effect, you live with them, and you can tell us how they are really like.
Gallimard probably thought he had control over the affairs (Song and Renee), but he did not. She talks to Gallimard in a way he did not expect. She was very open with her sexuality and I believe Hwang may have put her there to make a statement, like Gallimard is powerless though he seeks power, and that Renee, who may have appeared otherwise is probably different from the impressions her character may have left with the audience. Her character was there because it also indicated that she is not on the same level as Gallimard, and that Renee was playing a game, just like Gallimard toyed with the idea of a powerful westerner (or a man). You said, "The reason why I said that Gallimard had enough confidence and was able to get women WAS because of his relationship with Song." Yes, that is partially right. Song gave him confidence but he never got any women. Renee got him. If a chicken bit him in the behind, Gallimard is not capable of getting women, as you have claimed. I don't think Gallimard could control anyone, he was incapable and he is so wrapped around his own fantasy that it becomes a reality for him. He was a man who tasted what it felt like to be a [Western] dominant man. And he needed a submissive woman to affirm his convictions, and also a mistress to indulge in the praises he would get from other men like his boss. The thing about that is when a man has a wife and a mistress, it seems that he gets a whole new respect from his male peers. It was exactly because of that he was promoted, not because he had any great brain, but he was a man who had gained confidence through Song and a man who was high on himself. If the role of Gallimard and Renee were reversed, would you see him as promiscuous?
>I had gotten the idea that Rene was promiscous from
>the fact that she was very forward with Gallimard.
>She basically throws herself at him, fully knowing
>that he is a married man. She doesn't even know his
>name yet she is willing to start an affair with him,
>merely based on a two minute conversation. I might
>have been a little rash when saying that she was
>promiscous but that was the idea that I got after
>reading that scene. Also, having Hwang put a woman in
>that is so open with her feelings makes Song seem even
>more attractive for Gallimard. This is because he was
>obssesed with the idea of the dominant western man.
>The reason why I said that Gallimard had enough
>confidence and was able to get women WAS because of
>his relationship with Song. I know that she/he was
>the one that gave him all of the confidence that he
>displayed in the following scenes. He sees that he
>has some power as a man( in that he is able to control
>women) and uses it. This is only because of the
>relationship that he has with Song. The scene with
>Rene does come after the scene in which he has his
>experiment with Song in which he fully realizes his
>power to manipulate and control. I fully agree that
>Song is ultimately responsible for that change in
>Gallimard.
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