Yeong-hye’s old black sweater gave off the faint scent of mothballs. It had been a period of time utterly devoid of happiness and spontaneity. Sometimes you can return to an opinion you've not visited in years and find it's died and rotted away without you even noticing. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, In-hye could see that the role that she had adopted back then of the hard-working, self-sacrificing eldest daughter had been a sign not of maturity but of cowardice. From the creators of SparkNotes. Instead, she had merely absorbed all her suffering inside her, deep into the marrow of her bones. Even as a child, as far back as she could remember, she had done nothing but endure.” But this was nothing so crass as carnal desire, not for her—rather, or so it seemed, what she had renounced was the very life that her body represented.”, “There's nothing wrong with keeping quiet, after all, hadn't women traditionally been expected to be demure and restrained?”, “Time was a wave, almost cruel in its relentlessness as it whisked her life downstream, a life she had to constantly strain to keep from breaking apart.”, “Look, sister, I'm doing a handstand; leaves are growing out of my body, roots are sprouting out of my hands...they delve down into the earth. In The Vegetarian, a married woman rebels against strict Korean social mores by becoming a vegetarian, leading her husband to assert himself through acts of sexual sadism. They become too used to sitting alone and unconsidered, and if you ask them to move, their joints can ache, or parts of them can crumble away. It was a fact. So why do they keep on shrinking? Han’s glorious treatments of agency, personal choice, submission and subversion find form in the parable." Born date November 27, 1970 The effect of Kang’s prose is difficult to convey. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Look, sister, I'm doing a handstand; leaves are growing out of my body, roots are sprouting out of my hands...they delve down into the earth. The kind of woman whose goodness is oppressive.” Han Kang’s visceral and hypnotic novel, The Vegetarian, is so convincing that the translator, Deborah Smith, confessed to the author that she became a vegan after she finished.Han … But, as I have went through the summary, blurbs and commentaries on the acclaimed novel. Like. Because of meat. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Her life was no more than a ghostly pageant of exhausted endurance, no more real than a television drama. soracities. Abstaining from eating living things doesn’t lead … Find the quotes you need in Han Kang's The Vegetarian, sortable by theme, character, or chapter. Not even round anymore. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “This was the body of a beautiful young woman, conventionally an object of desire, and yet it was a body from which all desire had been eliminated.” Even as a child, as far back as she could remember, she had done nothing but endure.”, “When a person undergoes such a drastic transformation, there's simply nothing anyone else can do but sit back and let them get on with it.”, “Or perhaps it was simply that things were happening inside her, terrible things, which no one else could even guess at, and thus it was impossible for her to engage with everyday life at the same time. She … With my round breasts, I’m okay. But not my breasts. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. The book was published in multiple languages including English, consists of 183 pages and is available in Paperback format. Symbols & Motifs. We also accept Endlessly, endlessly...yes, I spread my legs because I wanted flowers to bloom from my crotch; I spread them wide...”, “This was the body of a beautiful young woman, conventionally an object of desire, and yet it was a body from which all desire had been eliminated.”, “Yells and howls, threaded together layer upon layer, are enmeshed to form that lump. But the dreams--invasive images of blood and brutality--torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and Han Kang (Korean: 한강; born November 27, 1970) is a South Korean writer. To answer the question, ideally I should have read the book but I haven't, yet. Enjoy this free preview Unlock all 25 pages of this Study Guide by subscribing today. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, In-hye could see that the role that she had adopted back then of the hard-working, self-sacrificing eldest daughter had been a sign not of maturity but of cowardice. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “There's nothing wrong with keeping quiet, after all, hadn't women traditionally been expected to be demure and restrained?” There was nothing else for it if I wanted to turn myself upside down again, you see.” So why do they keep on shrinking? She had never lived. Even after certain things have happened to them, no matter how awful the experience, people still go on eating and drinking, going to the toilet and washing themselves - living, in other words. All of it self-inflicted.” Founded in 2018, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people She had never lived. The Vegetarian Important Quotes. 488 notes. Chapter Summaries & Analyses. She had never lived. Follow. The kind of woman whose goodness is oppressive.”, “The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. I ate too much meat. The Vegetarian Character Analysis. and to carry with us the author’s best ideas. The only area where you're free to do just as you like.”, “the sight of her lying there utterly without resistance, yet armored by the power of her own renunciation, was so intense as to bring tears to his eyes.”, “I’m not an animal anymore, sister,” she said, first scanning the empty ward as if about to disclose a momentous secret. submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to I like my breasts, nothing can be killed by them. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “I want to swallow you, have you melt into me and flow through my veins.” The lives of the animals I ate have all lodged there. 183 All of it self-inflicted.”, “Perhaps the only things he truly loved were his images—those he’d filmed, or then again, perhaps only those he had yet to film.”, “It's your body, you can treat it however you please. The novel is also one of the first of her books to be translated into English. Error rating book. Summary. I want to swallow you, have you melt into me and flow through my veins. Part 3. Blood and flesh, all those butchered bodies are scattered in every nook and cranny, and though the physical remnants were excreted, their lives still stick stubbornly to my insides.” ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Why, is it such a bad thing to die?” ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Can only trust my breasts now. With my round breasts, I’m okay. You’re in their space, and they’re in yours, and you’re both at your most vulnerable.” Her devotion to doing things the right way had been unflagging, all her successes had depended on it, and she would have gone on like that indefinitely. She'd been unable to forgive her for soaring alone over a boundary she herself could never bring herself to cross, unable to forgive that magnificent irresponsibility that had enabled Yeong-hye to shuck off social constraints and leave her behind, still a prisoner. A participant of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Han has won the Yi Sang Literary Prize, the Today's Young Artist Award, and the Korean Literature Novel Award. Chapter Summaries & Analyses. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “This was the body of a beautiful young woman, conventionally an object of desire, and yet it was a body from which all desire had been eliminated. In 1993 she made her literary debut as a poet, and was first published as novelist in 1994. Why am I changing like this? ― John Darnielle, quote from Wolf in White Van. But the dreams--invasive images of blood and brutality--torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. Important Quotes. Refresh and try again. A Labor of Longhand. more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become Yeong-hye’s old black sweater gave off the faint scent of mothballs. Han Kang, in The Vegetarian. The opinions and feelings we've expressed before, when left to their own devices, can grow sluggish and curmudgeonly. In her remarkable novel, The Vegetarian, South Korean writer Han Kang explores the irreconcilable conflict between our two selves: one greedy, primitive; the other accountable to family and society. I ate too much meat. (50.7K votes), “The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but “Some memories never heal. ― Sam Sisavath, quote from The Purge of Babylon, “THERE’S A CERTAIN beauty in sleeping beside another person. Part 1. A time that she'd so far managed to get through only by using up every last reserve of perseverance and consideration. memorable and interesting quotes from great books. Park Jaehong. Kang posits vegetarianism as a feminist choice, a revolt against conformity and patriarchy — especially when Yeong-hye, who always enjoyed going braless, starts stripping bare in public places. Themes. The Vegetarian. The Vegetarian, Han Kang. I like my breasts, nothing can be killed by them. Blood and flesh, all those butchered bodies are scattered in every nook and cranny, and though the physical remnants were excreted, their lives still stick stubbornly to my insides.”, “The pain feels like a hole swallowing her up, a source of intense fear and yet, at the same time, a strange, quiet peace.”, “Sister,” Yeong-hye said, her voice low and calm as if intending to comfort her. Each quote represents a book that is - Porochista Khakpour, The New York Times Book Review. " But this was nothing so crass as carnal desire, not for her—rather, or so it seemed, what she had renounced was the very life that her body represented.” ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “It seemed enough for her to just deal with whatever it was that came her way, calmly and without fuss.” All I need is sunlight.”, “Only Yeong-hye, docile and naive, had been unable to deflect their father's temper or put up any form of resistance. Born place: in Gwangju, Korea, Republic of ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “For the first time, she became vividly aware of how much of her life she had spent with her husband. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Time was a wave, almost cruel in its relentlessness” It was a fact. And before Yeong-hye had broken those bars, she'd never even known they were there.” ― Han Kang, The Vegetarian. 60 likes. philosophy by which we live. And sometimes they even laugh out loud. ― Amy Tan, quote from The Valley of Amazement, “but people underestimate just how starved everybody is for some magic pathway back into childhood.” It was a fact. If so, she would naturally have no energy left, not just for curiosity or interest but indeed for any meaningful response to all the humdrum minutiae that went on on the surface.”, “This was the body of a beautiful young woman, conventionally an object of desire, and yet it was a body from which all desire had been eliminated. I'd been just about to go down into the earth. Han ’s realist horror story ― though it may seem over-the-top to American readers by now comfortable with gluten-free, sugar-free, lactose-free cupcakes ― convincingly pulls out quotidian issues of vegetarianism, such as the fear of judgment behind omnivores’ mocking of vegetarians, and the binding power of food and sharing meals. “Imagine you were snatching up a wriggling baby octopus … world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian “This was the body of a beautiful young woman, conventionally an object of desire, and yet it was a body from which all desire had been eliminated.” “The pain feels like a hole swallowing her up, a source of intense fear and yet, at the same time, a strange, quiet peace.” She didn't understand why, but faced with those decaying buildings and straggling grasses, she was nothing but a child who had never lived.”, “Life is such a strange thing, she thinks, once she has stopped laughing. We feel Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous When In-hye didn’t answer, Yeong-hye whispered one more time. pages, Rating: There was nothing else for it if I wanted to turn myself upside down again, you see.”, “It called to mind something ancient, something pre-evolutionary, or else perhaps a mark of photosynthesis, and he realized to his surprise that there was nothing at all sexual about it; it was more vegetal than sexual.”, “I was convinced that there was more going on here than a simple case of vegetarianism.”, “Can only trust my breasts now. We hope you’ll join us. It had been a period of time utterly devoid of happiness and spontaneity. Author's Profile. “The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. And sometimes they even laugh out loud. Han Kang. Do you know what a conscience is? The Vegetarian A Novel (Book) : Han, Kang : "Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. Han Kang has received the Man Booker International Prize 2016, the Yi Sang Literary Award, Today’s Young Artist Award, and the Manhae Literature Prize.English translations of her books include The Vegetarian (Portobello, 2015), Human Acts (Portobello, 2016), and The White Book (Portobello, 2018). Save Download. And in a nation known for its craving for international recognition, the book had pulled off a stunning coup. The following version of this book was used for the creation of this study guide: Kang, Han. the BookQuoters community. The Vegetarian, Deborah Smith’s English translation of one of Han Kang’s five novels, has been shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. 2,605 notes. 1. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Yells and howls, threaded together layer upon layer, are enmeshed to form that lump. And they probably have these same thoughts, too, and when they do it must make them cheerlessly recall all the sadness they'd briefly managed to forget.”, “Time was a wave, almost cruel in its relentlessness”, “She was no longer able to cope with all that her sister reminded her of. When In-hye didn’t answer, Yeong-hye whispered one more time. Rather than fading with the passage of time, those memories become the only things that are left behind when all else is abraded. Hand, foot, tongue, gaze, all weapons from which nothing is safe. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Sister,” Yeong-hye said, her voice low and calm as if intending to comfort her. Originally published in 2007 in South Korea, The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, an unremarkable woman who does unremarkable things…until the … offer you some of the highlights. Part 3. The Vegetarian by Han Kang is a relatively short read (the English edition clocks in at 188 pages), but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Instead, she had merely absorbed all her suffering inside her, deep into the marrow of her bones. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “the sight of her lying there utterly without resistance, yet armored by the power of her own renunciation, was so intense as to bring tears to his eyes.” Why am I changing like this? ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Or perhaps it was simply that things were happening inside her, terrible things, which no one else could even guess at, and thus it was impossible for her to engage with everyday life at the same time. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Such uncanny serenity actually frightened him, making him think that perhaps this was a surface impression left behind after any amount of unspeakable viciousness had been digested, or else settled down inside her as a kind of sediment.” Essay Topics. The first edition of the novel was published in October 30th 2007, and was written by Han Kang. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “She was no longer able to cope with all that her sister reminded her of. The Vegetarian by Han Kang tells a dangerously defiant story Yeong-hye is a marginal presence in the lives of those around her, and even in this book, until she … The Vegetarian (Korean: 채식주의자; RR: Chaesikjuuija) is a South Korean three-part novel written by Han Kang and first published in 2007. She had believed in her own inherent goodness, her humanity, and lived accordingly, never causing anyone harm. Get started. Essay Topics. About The Vegetarian The Vegetarian Summary A nightmare prompts the title character of Han Kang’s extraordinary novel “The Vegetarian” to adopt a strict vegan diet and to banish all animal … Why? “The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. They're other people's rules. You possess that freedom and no one can remove it from you” Han Kang, The Vegetarian ''“This was the body of a beautiful young woman, conventionally an object of desire, and yet it was a body from which all desire had been eliminated. “Sister…all the trees of the world are like brothers and sisters.”, “Such uncanny serenity actually frightened him, making him think that perhaps this was a surface impression left behind after any amount of unspeakable viciousness had been digested, or else settled down inside her as a kind of sediment.”, “For the first time, she became vividly aware of how much of her life she had spent with her husband. “I don’t need to eat, not now. The Vegetarian Quotes by Han Kang About The Vegetarian The Vegetarian Summary Character List Glossary Themes Quotes Analysis Symbols, Allegory and Motifs Metaphors and Similes Irony Imagery Literary Elements Essay Questions 51 likes. interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Perhaps the only things he truly loved were his images—those he’d filmed, or then again, perhaps only those he had yet to film.” Part 2. BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, Han Kang The Vegetarian is an existential nightmare, as evocative a portrayal of the irrational as I’ve come across in some time." See more on GoodReads, “If left unused, conversations can grow rusty over time. minima--moralia. Han first wrote the book entirely by hand, which took her a long time due to her joint problems. This Study Guide consists of approximately 66 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Vegetarian. ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Life is such a strange thing, she thinks, once she has stopped laughing. It was a fact. Still okay. The Vegetarian Han Kang. Character Analysis. ― Han Kang, The Vegetarian “Life is such a strange thing, she thinks, once she has stopped laughing. And sometimes they even laugh out loud. Well!!! Why are my edges all sharpening–what am I going to gouge” ― Han Kang, quote from The Vegetarian, “Only Yeong-hye, docile and naive, had been unable to deflect their father's temper or put up any form of resistance. Han Kang. Like. Get started. She had never lived. Summary. typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. But not my breasts. Even as a child, as far back as she could remember, she had done nothing but endure. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book Part 1. who share an affinity for books. She'd been unable to forgive her for soaring alone over a boundary she herself could never bring herself to cross, unable to forgive that magnificent irresponsibility that had enabled Yeong-hye to shuck off social constraints and leave her behind, still a prisoner. Even as a child, as far back as she could remember, she had done nothing but endure. Character Analysis. Han Kang is a South Korean writer whose novels in translation include Human Acts and The Vegetarian – for which she won the 2016 International Man … She won the Man Booker International Prize for fiction in 2016 for The Vegetarian, a novel which deals with a woman’s decision to stop eating meat and its devastating consequences. , all weapons from which nothing is safe, yet marrow of her books to be into..., makes demands novel was published in October 30th 2007, and was written by Kang. 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