The Female Body as a Site of Resistance: A Radical Feminist Study of Violence and Control in The Vegetarian

Abstract

The paper delves deep into the analysis of Female body as site/agency of resistance in The Vegetarian by Han Kang by employing the critical lens of radical Feminist theory. The novel portrays the dystopian plot of a Protagonist Yeong-Hye who stands in opposition of stipulated social and cultural norms by relinquishing the meat eating and turns vegetarian. An ordinary woman, Yeong-Hye, decides unconventionally which signifies the unilateral freedom of body as the meat consumption was not only a social tradition but also a familial norm. The outright shift from meat to vegetables storms the family and challenges the social norms. The decision sparked a conflict leading to the repudiation of sexuality and human identity. The decision was normal in the perspective of Yeong-Hye but response was unwanted and conflictual. The conflict manifests the urge of feminine freedom to choice and the way social control system resists woman from personal choices and bodily autonomy. The research paper draws on the feminist critical framework of Kate Millet and Andrea to interpret and analyze the dystopian experiences of Yeong-Hye as a female body in the Vegetarian. To understand the deeper layers of underlying meanings and concepts, the crucial patriarchal elements are discussed which tend to cover, restrict, regulate, discipline and appropriate the female body. Millet on the one hand underscored the subjugation of women via ideological tenets and physical enforcement. Meanwhile, Andrea situates that women suffer at the hands of patriarchal chains by the means of objectification of violence and the violation of human body. Besides, the paper seeks to relate the Michel Faucalt’s concept of Disciplinary power in order to view at the novel plot as the body of Yeong-Hye undergoes strict surveillance, normalization and punishment.  The paper treats the novel beyond its literal underpinnings. The meat is the novel is not looked at as a food choice but a symbolic element of rejection and non-compliance and non-conformity. Yeong-Hye in the novel transforms into plantlike creature and flee from the sexual interactions which entails her deep desire to escape the socially stipulated chains as both consumption and control complicate her life. The refusal or physical resistance carries many symbols, from getting rid of unseen prison, fomenting her identity as a female and the way to destroy her identity too. Consequently, the article brings about the minute details, contradictions, concepts and stipulations with reference to the radical feminist ideas. The female body turns out to be a medium of denial against the social control. The story of Yeong-Hye proves that both liberation and destruction can flick out of resistance and most probably the destruction. The novel is replete with the underpinnings which offers a solid ground for patriarchal critique.

Keywords: Female Body, Resistance, Radical Feminist, Study of Violence, The Vegetarian, Feminist Ideas.