ABSTRACT
In Han Kang’s novel, The Vegetarian , South Korean wife Yeong-hye decides abruptly and to her controlling husband’s chagrin to give up meat, eggs, and dairy after a series of disturbing dreams. Yeong-hye’s husband and the other men in her life are drawn by Kang as agents of rape culture who use meat as their weapon; those opting out of this consumption—manifested here in Yeong-hye’s refusal to engage in the meat industry, and by extension, the capitalist system—are destroyed and discarded. These male characters become players in the furthering of a capitalist cause with Yeong-hye running away from consumerism and escaping into nature. When viewed theoretically through a vegan studies perspective, Yeong-hye represents the natural world, and the oppressive men in her life are the push for industrialization. Yeong-hye turns away from her prescribed role, using veganism as her personal riot, which is linked with her revelation that her lot is not unlike the animals beaten into meat. She is exploited; she is told to dress up for outsiders to improve her capital; she is controlled, violated, and wrangled; and she is destroyed. In short, Yeong-hye does not merely change her diet; she asserts the importance of bodily autonomy, whether it be animal or mineral, which is an insurmountable battle juxtaposed against capitalist gain.
