한강 『채식주의자』에 나타난 여성 몸의 의미와 저항 읽기 = Reading the Meaning and Resistance of the Female Body in Hangang’s 『Vegetarian』

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In Hangang’s 『Vegetarian』, the meat-eating culture that implies physical desire means a male-centered dominant order, and acts as a tool to strengthen ownership and control over women.
The first violence inflicted on Yeong-hye’s body was by her father, who was obsessed with authoritative and patriarchal values, and after that, she is exposed to a variety of violence, including rape, forcing her to eat meat, self-injury, admission to a mental hospital, and fasting. The transformation that appeared to Yeong-hye, who perceived such violence as a threat to her subjectivity and made extreme resistance, could be said to mean liberation from the male authority that made herself a lower class while connecting herself to the world.
The change in the perception of the body practiced by Young-hye emphasizes the restoration of the subjectivity that humans should have rather than women. This action induces In-hye to self-destruct the body in which the objectified self-overcoming and male-centered dominant order are imprinted. Exploring women’s body perception and resistance consciousness centered on male and female gender roles can obtain the ability to censor fixed gender consciousness from a critical point of view.