PRESERVING HUMANITY: A MEDICAL ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF THE VEGETARIAN

Abstract

Han Kang's novel, "The Vegetarian," which received the 2016 Man Booker International Prize, marks a significant milestone in Asian literature. Influenced by her father's Buddhist literature, Han Kang delves deep into themes of life, death, and human suffering. As a female writer, she not only examines the plight of women under patriarchy but also grapples with the ethical dilemmas that confront humanity in the modern world. "The Vegetarian" consists of three interconnected novellas, narrating the story of Yeong-hye, a vegetarian accused of ethical transgressions and ultimately clinically diagnosed as insane. The narrative revolves around Yeong-hye's resistance to domestic and social violence triggered by her unsettling dreams. Despite its critical acclaim, the discussion of "The Vegetarian" has predominantly revolved around its plot-driven narrative. Theoretical perspectives have predominantly focused on themes like feminism, ecocriticism, and posthumanism, often converging on binary oppositions within patriarchal society, such as male/female, animal/plant, and human/nature. This narrow focus has constrained analysis to the microcosm of the family and the macrocosm of society. While Ginevra Read (2017), a specialist registrar in medical psychotherapy, has offered a medical perspective on the novel, his critique primarily operates within the clinical realm, interpreting Yeong-hye's vegetarianism as the harbinger of an all-encompassing psychosis. Yet, a crucial aspect that remains underexplored is the interplay between the medical field and other domains, particularly the realm of historical ethics. The medical perspective, in this context, needs a broader examination to appreciate its significance in the novel's the matic exploration [1-3].