At this point Yeong-hye refuses all food, causing In-hye to feel helpless in the face of her sister’s self-imposed starvation. Yeong-hye is now in a psychiatric hospital, and her sister In-hye is the only member of the family who has not abandoned her. The final chapter takes place three years after the opening of the novel. From that point forward he becomes obsessed with incorporating Yeong-hye’s birthmark into his art. The second chapter is narrated from the point of view of Yeong-hye’s brother-in-law (whose name is never shared with the reader), a video artist, who never gave Yeong-hye much thought until his wife makes the casual comment that Yeong-hye has a birthmark on her buttock. So strong is Yeong-hye’s vegetarian conviction that she attempts suicide after an altercation in which her father uses physical force to shove meat into her mouth. Cheong and her family, not relenting even in the face of the awkward social situations that result. To be sure, that kind of wife, and that kind of lifestyle, did mean that I was unlikely to find my days particularly stimulating.Įverything in their staid lives changes when, prompted by a dream, Yeong-hye stops eating meat, and persists in her abstention despite pressure from Mr. Only at mealtimes would she open the door and silently emerge to prepare the food. While I idled the afternoon away, TV remote in hand, she would shut herself up in her room. Even when our days off happened to coincide, it wouldn’t occur to her to suggest we go out somewhere together. It was rare for her to demand anything of me, and however late I was in getting home she never took it upon herself to kick up a fuss. And at least initially, Yeong-hye does not disappoint: Cheong sought a woman who would be unassertive and bland. Cheong (referred to as such throughout), narrates the first chapter. Yeong-hye is the focal point of each chapter, and when read together the narratives fashion a novel that is greater than the sum of its parts. The Vegetarian consists of three long chapters that were originally published in Korea as separate novellas. She devolves into something that exists without meaning, like a plant or animal, and in doing so she ignores the societal norms that require a suppression of the primal. The Vegetarian’s heroine, Yeong-hye, gradually sheds her essence, emotionally isolating herself.

“Existence precedes essence” is a central tenet of Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy-first a human exists and then she creates her essence, the values and meanings that define her as human. In her remarkable novel, The Vegetarian, South Korean writer Han Kang explores the irreconcilable conflict between our two selves: one greedy, primitive the other accountable to family and society. There is a primal side in each of us, one that disrespects social norms, has needs, makes demands.

The vegetarian kang