BotM June: THE VEGETARIAN by Han Kang

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > BotM June: THE VEGETARIAN by Han Kang

Peel: Dec 3, 2007

This book was pretty good. And for whatever reason the end was actually quite gripping, I was reading at a ferocious pace and barely getting all the paragraphs. I'm not even sure why.

Mel Mudkiper posted:

I like how the books correlates the social expectations of femininity with the consumption of meat. Yeong-Hye's nightmares begin as the idea that she is taking another thing's life and essence into herself in order to survive. In the same way, Korean culture seems constructed in such a way that men survive off the essence of women in the same way that animals eat other animals to live. The three sections seem to be a meditation on how men "consume" women. In the first chapter, Yeong-Hye exists as a vessel her husband takes from in order to establish his own existence. Food, sex, clothing, social stability, these are all things her husband seems to consume and that Yeong-Hye is expected to provide. Notice when she begins to break down, even her own family is less concerned with her own well-being than with the fact she is unable to provide for her husband's expectations.

In the same way that the first chapter is explicit criticism of the predatory nature of male and female relations in Korea, the second chapter seems to be a broader critique of sexual relations and the trope of the "muse." Despite being well provided for by his wife, the brother-in-law still looks at Yeong-Hye as something to consume for own benefit. Instead of consuming her for social stability, he seems to be higher up on Mazlow's hierarchy, seeking to consume her for own his self-actualization. The brother-in-law sees her as a thing to be used for his own spiritual and artistic benefit, utterly unconcerned with how his behavior affects either of the women in his life. Both of them exist for his benefit, at some level or another, and he never seems concerned with reciprocating that support. I appreciate how thoroughly the concept of a "muse" is intertwined in this portion. The idea of the beautiful or at least sexually appealing women as a source of artistic inspiration is an old cliche, but here the author really breaks it down into its inherently predatory nature.

The third section complicates any possible resolution. Why does Yeong-Hye want to become a tree, and no longer be animal? Because, plants do not consume anything to live. Even as a vegetarian, she was still taking life from something else living. She was still acting in a predatory fashion, if not against a "conscious" being like an animal. Her desire to stop eating meat, tied back into her dream, is tied into her desire to escape from the predatory experience of womanhood. This is alluded to in the memory of the sisters lost in the woods. For Yeong-Hye, to end her own taking of life means an escape from the predation of a male society. However, we see that this is impossible. Not only because she is slowly dying, but also because of the burden this places on her sister. Ironically, Yeong-Hye's own desire to escape from the cycle with consumes her essence has caused her to become a burden to her sister. Yeong-Hye is now consuming essence from her sister in the same way the men of her life have consumed from her. There is no clear resolution.

Further Recommended Reading Please Look after Mom by Shin Kyung-Sook

One thing I noticed in this breakdown is that while the first two chapters are each centred on Yeong-Hye and a male predator, the third is between two women. However the third still has a parasitic male presence in the form of the son. But he differs from the previous two in that 1. he has no choice in the matter being a literal child 2. he appears to be an anchor for the sister and prevent her from sliding into withdrawal like Yeong-Hye due to her responsibility toward him. He certainly gets better shrift in the narrative than the other male characters. I'm not sure what to make of this - there's a political reading of hope for the next generation but I don't like it, it feels crude and out of place and doesn't gel with the fact that the sister abandons him to another woman (parasiting on her) to care for Yeong-Hye as she declines.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2016 20:19

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Dec 6, 2024 08:46

Peel: Dec 3, 2007

I enjoyed the long argument in this thread and it helped me, a philistine, think harder about the book.

Also while I was the one who was quoted calling them predators I totally sympathised with the first part narrator when his wife's sudden strange behaviour wasted a ton of expensive food and caused him professional problems.

Guy A. Person posted:

Also I disagree with abalieno thoroughly but let's put a lid on the "spergy" stuff.

yeah

# ¿ Jul 2, 2016 00:19

Peel: Dec 3, 2007

Guy A. Person posted:

This guy's very first post in this thread was "this book won a prize because it is short and reviewers are lazy but want to look smart".

Also people who like literary fiction are just trying to look smart, and people who think a fantasy author got his neuroscience wrong are just trying to look smart.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2016 11:14

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > BotM June: THE VEGETARIAN by Han Kang