ДЕКОНСТРУКЦІЯ ТРАДИЦІЙНОЇ ТІЛЕСНОСТІ В РОМАНІ ХАН ҐАН “ВЕГЕТАРІАНКА”

Abstract

The 2016 Man Booker International Prize winning novel “The Vegetarian” by the South Korean writer Han Kang describes the transgression of the mundanity of life, rebellion of a young woman Yeonghye against social construction of human body.
The interpretations of the novel by many scholars are limited to gender and eco-feminist approaches, but the book should be analyzed in broad socio-cultural context with due regard for the influence of the long-lasting Confucian tradition on the world-view of the contemporary Koreans. As a consequence of permanent fostering of the ideas of collectivism and emphasizing the duties of every person to a social group, the Korean society developed severe intolerance to bodily and ideological differences.
The paper shows that the novel “The Vegetarian” is based on the criticism of the restrictions imposed on an individual’s freedom by the tenets of Confucian set of values, still being the basis of interpersonal relations in the Republic of Korea. The research presents an attempt of socio-cultural interpretation of the bodily transformations of the female protagonist and the reactions of her family to these changes from the standpoint of traditional Confucian categories of social hierarchy, strict social roles and responsibility of an individual to the community.
Yeonghye is experiencing a profound crisis of her identity because she rejects the world full of different forms of violence, including consumption and objectification of people, aimed to observance of the strictly regulated social order. Yeonghye’s denial to eat meat becomes a first step to her release from socio-cultural pressure and leads her to meeting the Other inside her Self, to development of a new corporeality: she chooses physical exhaustion trying to turn into a plant. Yeonghye’s new body means her refusal of maintaining the image of a “normal” member of so-ciety at the cost of self-sacrifice and “consumption” of other persons. As Yeonghye rejects any kind of violence, she cannot impose her beliefs on anyone and is compelled to remain silent.
The relatives of the protagonist treat her psychological and physical metamorphosis as deviation and challenge to Confucian standards of social life. They seek to bring Yeonghye back to conformist position and require her to sacrifice her personality and freedom for the sake of harmonizing her lifestyle with the needs and expectations of the community.