Imagine that one day you wake up a changed person. The Vegetarian by Han Kang attempts to answer the question of why.
Enter Yeong-hye. When she suddenly wakes up a vegan, her only explanation being that she “had a dream,” her unremarkable life is delineated as something unthinkable. Her meat-loving family is revolted. Her unambitious office worker husband, Mr. Cheong, falls into a state of detached disgust and bitterness. She is pitied, objectified, hated, and misunderstood. Only her sister In-hye stays by her side.
Yeong-hye’s sudden “rebellion” sets off a spiraling domino of drama and scathing social critique.
Yeong-hye is expected to be a conforming wife. By conforming, it’s her job to regurtitate the needs and desires of her husband without flinching. She can be unremarkable in every aspect, but she cannot be different. In The Vegetarian, difference is something to be looked down upon. So when Yeong-hye breaks through the expectations of the sexist patriarchy she was always brought up in, she spirals even further into the tabboo as a mechanism to subvert the “shame” thrown at her by all sides.
The book makes more sense when it discusses her internalization of violence inflicted by the men around her. Her father is a major figure of violence and patriarchal power with his abuse of not only her but animals as well, even going so far as to punish a dog by shackling it at the back of his car. When he forcefully feeds Yeong-hye meat, the only way she can regain control of herself is by slitting her wrists in front of him. By doing so, she defies him. She derives satisfaction from seeing him disoriented. By slitting her wrists, she cuts the invisible knot immobilizing her. By falling into the tabboo, she’s given space to be free, to live. As she becomes a “tree,” her body transcends the realms of eroticism and such manmade ideals. The tragedy is that her desire to live is slowly killing her. This is a tragedy that only her sister, a separate identity but another victim of a sexist, conformist society, comes to understand.
“It’s your body, you can treat it however you please. The only area where you’re free to do just as you like.”
The Vegetarian is a densely narrated trifecta of dreams, flowers, and the female body.
Imagine again that one day you wake up a changed person. After having read the book, there is also the question of what: what would you do if the change gave you the chance to rebel?
~5 stars.
