Literature is often one of the most effective ways to address social taboos and shed an honest, raw light on them.
Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian” does more than just confront a less popular choice in Korean society — vegetarianism — it insists these choices can completely change how we value the life of another person and what our place is in society.
Originally published in Kang’s native language, Korean, in 2007, “The Vegetarian” was recently translated into English.
Regarded as Kang’s best work, the short novel, which was originally three long chapters published separately, follows a woman’s transformation into a vegetarian.
This may not seem radical, but as I discovered shortly before reading and certainly as I read, vegetarianism is rare in Korea, according to the Korean Vegetarian Union.
It is rare enough that Yeong-Hye, the woman in transformation, is quickly outcast by her husband and soon rejected, even by her parents and brother.
Yeong-Hye stops eating meat after a bloody dream that causes her to feel guilt about all the animals she has killed for consumption.
It gets even stranger as Yeong-Hye also becomes determined to become a plant.
As part of her descent into madness, she strips in public to “sun” herself like a plant, envisions plants growing out of her crotch and does headstands for hours so her roots (head) can be buried in the ground.
A curious twist to this story is that almost none of it is narrated through Yeong-Hye’s point of view.
There is short dream-like sequence where we hear her thoughts, but the first chapter is from the perspective of her husband, the second her brother-in-law and the third her older sister.
Her husband, who is easily one of the most unlikable, despicable and misogynistic characters I have ever read about, shifts from feeling indifferent about this wife to being downright sadistic after she converts to vegetarianism.
Yeong-Hye’s brother-in-law, who is married to her older sister, develops an unhealthy obsession with a Mongolian Mark (a sort of birthmark) on Yeong-Hye’s buttock, which culminates in a sexual affair discovered by In-Hye, the older sister.
The last chapter takes place a few years later after Yeong-Hye has been placed in a psychiatric facility with her sister being the last person with any remaining hope in her sanity.
Unfortunately, the hope is futile as Yeong-Hye is in her final stages of her conversion into a plant and has refused to eat any food, wanting to survive off the sun alone.
“The Vegetarian” was a quick read, but it packed a huge punch.
While none of the characters were particularly likeable, a typical turn off for me, Kang presented them in such a way where you couldn’t attempt to identify with them — you could only just observe their actions.
This made the more unpalatable scenes in the novel easier to swallow.
While the “The Vegetarian” certainly never had a dull moment, it was often so strange I had to put it down and switch to another story.
Nonetheless, the premise of a woman trying to turn into a plant is interesting, and I would recommend the novel as an insight into vegetarianism in Korean culture, albeit an extreme one.
