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.
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