A Study On Han Gang's Novel ?Vegetarian?

Han Gang,a young Korean woman writer,has been awarded various literary prizes in Korea many times.After Han' s novel Vegetarian was awarded the International Booker Prize in 2016,her recent works attracted the attention of Korean Literary Circles and were studied by many literary scholars.Han' s novel Vegetarian has opened the attention of women in today's Korean society.By describing the rebellious resistance of a female character to the conservative tradition of Korea,it explores the madness and scars of people' s inner depression.Yeonghye,the protagonist of Vegetarian,is an ordinary Korean housewife.She recalls the psychological trauma of her childhood through her dreams,then realizes the reality of depression and violence.So she decides to stop eating meat and become a vegetarian.Her behavior gradually brings misfortune to her family and eventually leads to its collapse.Yeonghye' s lifestyle represents the miserable living conditions including women' s family status in the patriarchal society.Therefore,it is necessary to discuss the crisis of women' s encounter in their family.The novel depicts the Yeonghye ' s painful struggle with three different character ' s perspectives,which makes the novel concise,beautiful but disturbing.The image of the protagonist and her sister depicted by Han in the Vegetarian is typically suppressed by life and family.When she was a child,she was repressed by her father,then by her husband after marriage.As family members,women tend to be "sexual roles" and are required to obey,dedicate and sacrifice.There is no change for them to reflect their personal values.Han Gang created a female character Yeonghye who resisted the patriarchal family and finally got self-liberation through social"vegetative" status in Vegetarian.This study will analyze Han' s novel Vegetarian from the perspective of feminist criticism,furthermore,analyze how the "patriarchy" is realized within the family.This study also reveals what kind of suppression the "patriarchy�has given to women's rights and freedoms,how to fight against it,how do other female members in the family react and the consequence of those.Feminists try to change the suppressed family status of women by focusing on women's liberation and the problems that may occur within a family.Moreover,at this point of view,this study will investigate the crisis and suffering of the excluded women in the Vegetarian and the meaning of the resistance forms reflected in the novel.