A Deleuzian Reading of “Becoming-plant” in Han Kang’s Writing: “The Fruit of My Woman” and The Vegetarian

Abstract

ABSTRACTSince the English language version (translated by Deborah Smith) won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize, Han Kang and The Vegetarian have attained worldwide attention. In Han’s novels, female characters tend to develop and assert a sense of personal identity through eating disorders. This paper in particular notes that the female leading characters’ refusal to eat leads to their “becoming-plant,” in Han’s two texts, “The Fruit of My Woman” and The Vegetarian. In both texts, the “becoming-plant” of the women who are awakened to and thus struggle to escape from their unbearable reality, the reality of oppression, violence, and human cruelty, is paradoxically their way of seeking their true selves. To explore the trajectories of the female lead characters’ desires and struggles to escape from the misery of existing reality, this paper reads the theme of “becoming-plant” in “The Fruit of My Woman” and The Vegetarian based on Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s distinctive concept of “becoming.” This aim will accord with Han’s intent to provoke readers to engage in self-reflexive, open-ended, and future-oriented inquiries about human violence and to awaken awareness of the ethics of vegetability.