The Politics of the Female Body: Resistance and Patriarchal Violence in The Vegetarian

Han Kang’s The Vegetarian presents a compelling critique of patriarchal authority by portraying the female body as a contested site of control, resistance, and self-expression. Through a close textual analysis, the paper explores four interconnected dimensions of resistance: patriarchal violence imposed upon the female body, bodily resistance through vegetarianism, silence as a form of political agency, and arboreal transformation as a symbolic rejection of human violence and social conformity. The analysis demonstrates that the family, marriage, and medical institutions collectively function as disciplinary mechanisms that seek to normalize female behaviour by controlling bodily practices and suppressing individual autonomy. In response, Yeong-hye employs her body as the primary site of resistance, refusing food, speech, and ultimately the human identity that sustains patriarchal violence. Her silence is interpreted not as passivity or psychological collapse but as an alternative mode of communication that challenges dominant discourses of power. Likewise, her desire to become a tree signifies a radical aspiration to exist beyond the violence embedded within human civilization. The paper contends that Han Kang redefines political resistance by portraying the body itself as a space of ethical dissent, where acts of refusal become expressions of freedom and self-determination. Ultimately, the study contributes to contemporary feminist literary scholarship by demonstrating that The Vegetarian critiques patriarchal ideology through its powerful representation of bodily autonomy, resistance, and the enduring struggle for female agency in modern society.