The Vegetarian by Han Kang tells the story of Yeong-hye’s mental deterioration through three outsiders’ perspectives. The first part chronicles the beginning of her vegetarianism through her husband’s experience of frustration, bewilderment, and shame. The second highlights that, though she is able to integrate herself into society after a brief hospital stint, she is still easy to take advantage of and manipulate, as demonstrated by her brother-in-law’s determination to create—and ultimate success in creating—an “art” piece from his lust for her Mongolian mark. Finally, the third part follows her time at the Ch’ukseong Psychiatric Hospital and rationalizes her madness through her sister, In-hye’s, perspective. With these accounts as puzzle pieces, Kang ultimately portrays Yeong-hye’s mental illness as adjacent to liberation, but, at the same time, as a corruption of Buddhist ideals, a contradiction within a contradiction.
Yeong-hye’s initial motivation for vegetarianism is to free herself from a cycle of violence within herself. Her husband, Mr. Cheong, states that, “Before my wife turned vegetarian, I’d always thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way,” and that he only liked her for her passive personality (Kang 3). Other than not liking to wear a bra, Yeong-hye had been the perfect image of conformity and, thus, a perfect wife for an ordinary guy like him. To suddenly go against the grain of society by refusing to eat meat was a radical change for her. Her husband finds it unreasonable and embarrassing, and his coworkers make snide remarks toward it, too (20, 34). This highlights society’s emphasis on public image, as well as Yeong-hye’s complete denial of it. Additionally, in Korea, vegetarianism is viewed as problematic because it disrupts unity (Hall). By refusing the host’s food with no justifiable reason, such as health or religion, Yeong-hye’s behavior is rude and socially unacceptable. She isolates herself from society through her actions. Yet, to Yeong-hye, a meatless diet is the only way to maintain her sanity. She becomes vegetarian to avoid a recurring dream of violence: wading through blood, eating raw meat, and an uncanny, terrifying face welling up from within (17). Her reasoning is hard for others to understand, so she simply says, “I had a dream” (14). Without regard for how others perceive her, she turns inward and changes her actions to align with her values.
While her motivations appear psychological on the surface, they also resonate with spiritual practices that emphasize detachment from violence and desire. Many of Yeong-hye’s actions align with the principles of Buddhism. The Noble Eightfold Path consists of eight “Right”s: Understanding, Thought, Speech, Action, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration (Rahula ch. 5). Her refusal to cause harm falls under Right Action, which is against the destruction of life. As her journey progresses and she ends up living alone in a studio, her brother-in-law notices that “her expression was as serene as that of a Buddhist monk” (Kang 112). He is also astonished by how her conventionally beautiful body holds no traces of desire at all, but instead, “what she had renounced was the very life that her body represented” (127). This embodies another Buddhist concept of detachment and the recognition of suffering. On the surface, it also aligns with Right Concentration, where both passionate desires and unwholesome thoughts disappear (Rahula ch. 5). Thus, Yeong-hye’s vegetarianism and monk-like disposition can be seen as her first step toward Nirvana, the freedom from desire, attachment, and suffering.
Yeong-hye’s sister, In-hye, picks up on her liberation. Despite Yeong-hye being confined in a mental institution, In-hye expresses envy toward her sister’s situation for “that magnificent irresponsibility that had enabled Yeong-hye to shuck off social constraints and leave her behind, still a prisoner” (Kang 211). At this point, Yeong-hye holds a strong conviction to stop eating and become a tree; the psychiatrist diagnoses her with schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa (208). Her mental state is a direct result of unequal social hierarchies and the patriarchy. It can be attributed to society’s projection of standards and desires onto her, making her a stranger to her own body and existence. Thus, in such a state, it is hard to escape other than removing herself from the world physically, whether it be through self harm or delusions of becoming a tree. Her path to Nirvana ends here. The Noble Eightfold Path, also called the Middle Path, avoids the search for happiness through sense pleasures and extreme asceticism, the latter of which Yeong-hye ends up embracing. Her retreat into herself and eventual decision to become a tree reflects an exaggerated and corrupted Buddhist notion of detachment from the material.
In a world where women are subjugated in a hierarchical, male-dominated society, Yeong-hye’s budding desire for equity among all beings to quash her violent thoughts cannot survive. She first contradicts society through the embodiment of the Buddhist lifestyle, then contradicts this lifestyle again by taking it to the extreme. Any progress she experiences with her Buddhist-style coping mechanisms is reversed once outside actors intervene, whether it is through her father shoving meat in her mouth, her brother-in-law taking advantage of her, or her sister institutionalizing her. Though close to attaining Nirvana, Yeong-hye eventually deviates from the Eightfold Path, succumbing to suffering rather than overcoming it. This ultimately demonstrates the difficulty in escaping the gridlock of societal pressures, especially when they are continuously reinforced by those closest to oneself.
works cited
- Hall, Emily Marie Anderson. “Vegetarianism in Korea: Issues.” Violence and Trauma in Contemporary Korean Literature, 20 May 2025, University of Washington, Seattle. Lecture.
- Kang, Han. The Vegetarian: A Novel. Translated by Deborah Smith, e-book, Hogarth, 2015.
- Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. E-book, Grove Press, 1974.