Analyzing Yeong-hye's Silence, Resistance, and Madness in The Vegetarian from the Perspective of Foucault's Archaeology of Knowledge

Abstract

The Vegetarian is a representative work by South Korean author Han Kang. It became the first Korean novel to win the International Booker Prize in 2016 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024.The novel consists of three parts—"The Vegetarian," "Mongolian Mark," and "Flaming Trees"—narrating the physical and psychological transformation of the protagonist, Yeong-hye, from the perspectives of her husband, Yeong-hye herself, her brother-in-law, and her sister. The female characters in this work, especially Yeong-hye, undergo profound psychological and identity crises. Despite being the protagonist, Yeong-hye rarely speaks from a first-person perspective. Apart from describing her dreams at the beginning and murmuring to herself after becoming a vegetarian and noticing her emaciated body, she scarcely voices her inner thoughts. By the end of the novel, her attempt to transform into a tree plunges her into complete"silence." In fact, throughout the novel, other female characters also experience varying degrees of voicelessness. To explore the manifestations and causes of this "silencing" dilemma faced by Yeong-hye and other women, this study examines female discourse power through character analysis. It further reflects on how contemporary women can achieve self-redemption and liberation from such silence in society.