Han Kang 's The Vegetarian

Jook-Liang’s grandmother doesn’t let her become a movie star, because Poh-Poh thinks that Jook-Liang is a girl and that she is useless, she can’t be a movie star, she can do nothing. Conversely, that is just her opinion without any proof, even though Poh-Poh is also a woman. This kind of gender discrimination and ridiculous opinion makes Jook-Liang hate Grandmother. Thirdly, this traditional Chinese thinking makes her think about herself.

Shen Fu was a Chinese writer and art dealer who lived during the Qing Dynasty. He had a very strong love for his wife Chen Yun and she is the inspiration for his book “Six Records of a Floating Life”, which vividly describes their life and love together. Shen Fu discusses the happiness that he found in marriage to his cousin Yun, in his first chapter, “Joys of the Wedding Chamber”. He then goes into detail, and is even reminiscent, about enjoying the little things and his experiences with them in the second part of his book, “Pleasure of Leisure”. Next Shen Fu talks about the adversities that he and Yun have to experience, in their sometimes-trying

This book started with Wang Lung introducing himself and how his life is like. He lived with his father mostly because his father was really sick and Wang Lung had to take care of him. His father was a traditional and moral man. He did not approve many things that went on in the house. Later on, he went to the house of the Huang’s and got a slave to be his wife. Her name was O-Lan. O-Lan was a slave and she was treated really terribly most of her life, even when she married Wang Lung. Together they had 5 children: three boys and two girls, each with very different characteristics.

As she recalls back on this time by telling her daughter what she calls her Kweilin story, Suyuan describes her feeling during this horrible time as “And inside I was no longer hungry for the cabbage or the turnips of the hanging rock garden. I could only see the dripping bowels of an ancient hill that might collapse on top of me. Can you imagine how it is, to want to be neither inside nor outside, to want to be nowhere and disappear?” (22) At this point in her life Suyuan was separated from her husband who is in the military and eventually is forced to abandon her two young daughters. This aspect of Suyuan’s life parallels the life of Amy Tan’s mother. Daisy tan was also married to a military man during the Chinese Civil War and like Suyuan was forced to abandon her two daughters in Shanghai. This was an experience that would affect her mother for the rest of her life and a story she would continue to tell and never forget. The life of Amy Tan is also a parallel to the life of Jing-Mei Woo of “June”. As a young girl June was forced to play the piano and practice constantly to become the best like Amy Tan was as a child. Along with playing the piano Suyuan also had high expectations for June as far as her future. She wanted her daughter to be the best in her class and go off to medical school to become a well educated doctor, the same expectation’s Amy Tan’s mother had for her. Both daughters decided to follow their dreams and

Leaving the story with a high note of rebirth, fertility, and an age of a new era will emerge. Another clue takes place in the third section of the narrative revealing the time period being in the early twentieth century before the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China, “the great Qing empire belongs to us” (Hsun, Lu, pg.76) the reader can infer that a sense of revolutionary attitude is being presented by the character. Why did Lu Hsun give away the time period? This phrase introduces a recurring theme along the story of informative persuasive and it gives the reader a glimpse of the characters’ perspectives. As well as it foreshadows the execution of the son of Hsia told by Uncle Kang, Confucius, who characterizes the event in a negative tone by mocking the incompetence of the youth. By characterizing the executioner as a “real scoundrel” or a “young rogue” (Hsun, Lu, pg.75) gives a pedestal between traditional Chinese values versus the revolution of modernism occurring at the time. Not only does this event showcase Lu Hsun beliefs of finding a true “spiritual” medicine but it shows the level of progression China is facing in this time period. It gives the reader a clear foundation of the cultural complex in the first section of the story. Lu Hsun utilizes pathos to achieve this message of tradition ceding progression.

In the book each of the Poh Poh’s are seen as old and wise but as well as have a deep sense of culture they are the heart of the home. Suk-Lung and Jung-Sum both had a relatively good relationship with their grandmother as they were cared for dearly”Suk-Lung and his illness. The concept of grandmother was seen throughout all three stories demonstrating their importance in Chinese culture as well as the characters lives.

Wang Lung from “The Good Earth” and Okonkwo from “Things Fall Apart” are both very similar characters. They both have a similar story and beliefs, yet they are quite different in regards to how their stories play out and how they value their beliefs in the end. This paper will look at both of the characters traits and stories to examine how they compare and contrast and how it affect them.

In the final scene of the movie Han informs the others of his decision to return to his home in Shanxi and work in the coal mines until he can repay the debt that keeps his daughter bound to her employer. Upon hearing the news his fellow workmen share a pack of cigarettes and drink to his safety and good fortune, as well as making a pact that they will follow Han to Shanxi and work alongside him in the mines. The scene is perhaps dry and longwinded, but the emotional recourse is so powerful that it warrants a simple aesthetic to balance the tone of the story with the mood it instills upon the audience. The fact that such camaraderie can arise in a world of detachment and enmity brings the closure that Zhangke has slowly and brilliantly steered the audience towards since the beginning of the film.

His moral ambiguity is heavily influenced by outside forces in his life that changes his view upon the world. The most excusable action in the eyes of the readers is when he commits a crime because his family is struggling in the southern city. Other citizens stricken by poverty tell Wang Lung that the riches do not belong to the wealthy, but to the poor. This conflicts with his belief that God determines one’s fate and way in life. Wang Lung goes against his morals and commits robbery because of his influence from others and the situation he was thrust into. This action determines Wang Lung’s wealthy future, but also symbolizes overcoming an obstacle, in this case, overcoming his internal conflict with his morals. The audience begins to notice the shift in Wang Lung’s character which will continue to develop negatively as his values are no longer intact.

[She] had been waiting for her to start shouting, so that [she] could shout back and cry and blame her for all my misery" (Tan 4). This pent up anger of Jing-mei illustrates how her mother’s high expectations for her to fit within the role of a Chinese American woman was damaging to her character. However, as the story progresses, Jing-mei begins to understand her mother's intentions and the cultural context behind her aspirations. Their relationship evolves as Jing-mei gains insight into her mother's sacrifices and the pressures she faced as a Chinese immigrant navigating American society. This journey of mutual understanding and reconciliation underscores the complexity of familial relationships and the transformative power of empathy and communication.

Although Chueh-hsin did not agree with these values, which so unfairly restricted him from his goals and desires, he felt as if he had no choice but to follow the word of his father and grandfather, the Venerable Master Kao. Towards the end of the novel, Chueh-hsin takes his last harsh blow from the Confucian dictates of his family, when his wife dies during childbirth, as a result of being forced away beyond the safety and comfort of the town and home, because of superstitious values of children being born in a household where a death had recently occurred. When this event occurs, Chueh-hsin realizes that he has made a mistake that is entirely irrevocable and that he himself is largely to blame for in adhering to the values and restrictions of the family. Upon realizing this, he decides to strike back in his own way, against the family, by helping his youngest brother, Chueh-hui, escape at the end of the novel.

Love within the family is one of the strong feelings throughout Chang’s work. When Shou-yu, her father, is imprisoned his children- including Jung herself- take turns to visit him. There is no established transportation so their journeys were always dangerous and they could have easily risked their lives. Of course they are able to get a ride when possible, but it was not guaranteed, meaning that the Chang siblings always took the well-being of their father over the hardship to get to him. Love within the family is also present when Shou-yu has a nervous breakdown in the hospital. Despite the fact the medical staff at the hospital say to Jung that he is in good care she still chooses to be with him, meaning she accepts the opportunity cost which may go toward helping

After the traumatizing dream, Yeong-hye abandons her way of living and hopes to become a plant to prevent the violent dream from reoccurring. Yeong-hye has turned unfamiliar and disengaged in social activities. Han Kang’s The Vegetarian includes three perspectives of people who closely associate with Yeong-hye to provide various views of their thoughts and experiences with her. Through the narratives, Han Kang incorporated descriptions of characters with distinctive senses that appeal to reader’s emotion and consciousness. The time lapse throughout the novel and different narration emphasize Yeong-hye’s determination to become a vegetarian, which has become a serious problem that also affects people around her. Han Kang’s emphasis on

Jing-mei realized that she was an ordinary individual and that she would not let her mother’s expectations change that. She no longer believed that she “could be anything [she] wanted to be, [rather she] could only be [herself]” (Tan 44). In using a limited, first-person point of view, Tan is able to show Jing-mei’s emotional progress of following her mother’s dreams to finally realizing her own dream.

Whether it be because of religion, culture, or personal choice, millions of people worldwide do not eat meat, and the majority of the population, the omnivores, often ridicule these people, the vegetarians, for their choices. This has sadly created a divide between thousands of people, however the cause of this separation is simple. One side, whether it be the omnivores or the vegetarians, feels the need to impose its choices onto the other side. Both sides are at fault here, as the omnivores tell the vegetarians that they cannot get proper nutrients from a plant-based diet, and the vegetarians try to tell the omnivores that they are torturing animals by killing them for food. The omnivores are wrong because, while it does require careful planning, vegetarians can easily get the nutrients they need, and the vegetarians are hypocritical because, as the article will show, farming kills thousands of creatures.