The Ethics of Refusal: Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and the Challenge of Animal and Gender Justice

Abstract

This study reads Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian alongside contemporary debates in animal ethics and feminist theory, centring on the refusal embodied by its main character, Yeong-hye. Tracing her vow to stop eating meat after a vivid dream, the argument shows how personal defiance unsettles the cultural scripts and patriarchal hierarchies that shape twenty-first-century South Korea. Yeong-hye’s choice, meant to affirm her integrity, quickly becomes a battleground on which her family and wider society pour out alienation, scorn, and even physical violence. Employing Carol J. Adams’ idea of the “absent referent,” the paper draws out telling analogies between the objectification of livestock and the erasure of women, arguing that both are made invisible whenever dominant discourse insists they can be safely ignored. In this light, Kang’s tale moves beyond mere social critique; it portrays agency and ethical resistance as possible, though they frequently demand painful sacrifice. By weaving together gender studies, animal theory, and narrative ethics, the article positions The Vegetarian as a timely meditation on food politics, the politics of refusal, and the uneasy cost of living one’s convictions.