Comparison of The Life and Loves of a She-devil and The Vegetarian

A singular person, at any moment in time, will have several different identities that they embody. Our identity is always changing, with every event, every action, and every interaction our identity evolves. But for many women, their role and to an extent their identity according to society is meant to be static. A woman is a mother, a whore, a wife, or a virgin, these are for most the only labels in which they are given or may identify with. This is especially evident in more traditional cultures where a woman’s identity is solely based around her family and husband. In fey Weldon’s the life and loves of a she-devil Ruth’s constant mistreatment and oppression from her husband causes her to defy the role society has given her and discard her old identity as a mother, wife, and women in order to embrace the label She-devil. Meanwhile, In Han Kang’s The vegetarian Yeong-hye’s passive deviations from her society’s and families expectations snow balls into a full blown resistance and defiance of the norms. While the motivation is different for each of the character as to why they decided to discard their personal identity their journeys are quite similar. In this investigation I plan to show through the language and narration how the oppression of their family and society has forced them to completely discard the person they were and how through their own means, including physically changing themselves, decide to reinvent, recreate, and take control over their identity.

Comparison and analysis of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil and The Vegetarian

Both novels take place within cultures, 1980s England and 2000s Seoul, that put a lot of value on tradition and conformity to the norm. Ruth is a woman who outwardly is viewed as everything a woman should not be and at the start of the novel constantly compares herself to her husband mistress, Mary Fisher, “I am as dark as Mary Fisher is fair” (9, 7). This reveals that Ruth sees Mary as the ideal woman and as her opposite and is also extremely envious of her for having Bobbo in a way that she cannot. Yet, if her appearance is disregarded she actually conforms to societal norms of a mother and wife very well and says this herself, but believes that this is not enough to be desired, “A man cannot be expected to be faithful to a wonderful mother and a good wife – such concepts lack the compulsion of the erotic” (9, 22). This emphasises that what really matters when it comes to a woman is her appearance and everything else is secondary. It does not matter that she is the best wife and mother if she is ugly and men do not find her desirable. This is supported when she calls herself clumsy in an imagined version of Bobbo after describing her first and only meeting with Mary Fisher. “’clumsy,’ he would have said” (9, 20), Ruth frames herself in a negative way due to her seeing it as Bobbo criticising her, since If she was pretty then it would be perceived as a positive or cute attribute but as it is not it is stacked against her. Furthermore, Ruth conforming so well to these norms are no coincidence, she puts a lot of effort into her home and children in the pursuit of being a good wife and mother but also in order to make up for her lack of beauty. She therefore considers them to be like chores, not something she actively wants to do but must in favour of fulfilling her predetermined role, “compose my face the sooner to return to my matrimonial duties, to wifedom and motherhood, and my in-laws” (24, 20). This exposes how far Ruth is willing to go in order to please those around her, even though she is forced to act in such a way, regardless of her own desires. Unlike Ruth, Yeong-hye naturally conforms in many ways, she is described as someone who does not stand out in terms of appearance or in the way she acts, but that her personality is odd compared to most women. Her husband describes her as a quiet woman but also at times too quiet, although he does not have too much of an issue with this as “after all, hadn’t women traditionally been expected to be demure and restrained?” (21, 8) which depicts how even though she does conform it is not because she wants to it is simply because she does.

Yeong-hye expends no effort into conforming and neither into not conforming until she decides to become a vegetarian. Within both of the novels the husbands of the main characters, Ruth and Yeong-hye, have married them out of convenience and not genuine love as they believed it would allow them to live an easier life. In the Life and loves of a she-devil Bobbo clearly states this to Ruth “our marriage was one of convenience, my dear. I think we both acknowledged that” (22, 8) which Ruth then gives a rebuttal that it was him it was convenient for him which shows that Ruth had certain expectations when getting married and that she had most likely wanted to be a traditionally married couple. Whereas Bobbo’s expectations were that he would be able to more or less do as he pleased and that Ruth would have to be ok with it, which is clearly illustrated when they discuss having an open marriage (30, 18-32). Bobbo does not ask or propose this arrangement but declares it to Ruth who does not know what this means and questions him. He does then not give an actual definition but says that it’ll will make them more honest and that “true love isn’t possessive” (30, 30), this alludes to him knowing that Ruth would not be ok with it but wants to trap her into agreeing so that she is bound to her word and his affairs are guilt free. Similarly, in The Vegetarian Mr Cheong, Yeong-hye’s husband, repeatedly states that he strived to live the most average life he could and made all his decisions according to this in order to live the most stress free life, which extended to the kind of woman he wanted to marry. He expresses how the reason he was attracted to Yeong-hye in the first place and decided to marry her was because she was “the most run-of-the-mill woman” (4, 10). Mr. Cheong had no want for a fussy or overbearing wife that would cause him to go outside of his comfort zone. Therefore, when Yeong-hye becomes a vegetarian it breaks his average life since now he has an unusual wife. However once the main characters do, or continue to in Ruth’s case, not act in accordance to their husbands predetermined lifestyle it causes them to become frustrated and angry which then makes them completely abandon their wives. Both of the husbands are extremely egotistical and demonstrate this in similar ways. In life and loves of a she devil Bobbo blames Ruth for him leaving, that it is because of her behaviour during his parent’s visit that causes him to seek out shelter with Mary fisher. “Merely the consequence of your actions. ” (46, 18), this perfectly depicts how egotistical he is because by phrasing his leaving as a consequence it means that he sees himself as a privilege, someone who Ruth must earn the company of. In comparison, although Mr. Cheong may not see himself as a privilege he is just as self-centred.

At first he is quite baffled by his wife decision to become a vegetarian and thinks of her as being quite selfish for expecting him not to eat meat alongside her, “how on earth could she be so self-centred” (13, 17), But even though he claims it’s selfish of her to expect him not to eat meat, is it not also selfish of him not to even try to understand why she has undergone this decision? Besides the first time he asks he never tries to delve into what the dream was about or why it had this affect to her, showing how he only really cares about her when it affects him. Moreover, he thinks that if he waits everything will return to normal, yet, once he realises she will not change back he becomes even more confused and believes there must be something else going on. “if it had been another instance of a woman giving up meat in order to lose weight then there would have been no need to worry” (15, 28), this then illustrates how he believes that a women would not do something alone based on their own moral values if it that had nothing to do with how others view them. Their family is another source of oppression for the main characters, from both childhood to adulthood they are both criticised or punished for either not fitting in or going against their families norms. In Ruth’s culture family is important, yet, she receives backlash for going against societal norms surround what a woman should be, while Yeong-hye’s is due to societal norms surrounding family. Ruth’s mother is depicted as someone who only cares about beautiful things which has led Ruth to internalize that her own mother does not love her, “I think perhaps she would have loved me, if she could. But ugly and discordant things revolted her: she couldn’t help it” (11, 12).

This could be the root of Ruth’s initial complacency at the start of the novel as she has been led to believe that the one person who is supposed to love her unconditionally does not because of her ugliness. This could therefore have caused Ruth to believe that she must do her best to please others and follow their wants in order to be loved in return. For Yeong-hye her husband describes her as nothing out of the ordinary which means that she mostly conformed to what a woman should look and act like, although when it comes to familial norms she strays. During the family get together her family try to pressure her in a multitude of ways in order to convince her to eat meat. Both of Yeong-hye’s parents order her to eat meat dishes “This one, and this, and this—hurry up and eat them. ” (36, 20) and expect complete obedience in return. In-hye, Yeong-hye’s sister, states that “Yeong-hye had been the only victim of their father’s beatings. ” (157, 16) because in-hye helped her mother and Yeong-ho was not bothered by the violence. This really illustrates that because she wasn’t different that she was neither better nor worse and so she was singled out by their father. In addition, the narration itself is an example of the family’s oppression of Yeong-hye as the only time the novel is from her point of view is during her dreams at the start of the novel, otherwise, each of the three sections being of the point of view of her husband, her brother in law, and her sister. This means that Yeong-hye is constantly portrayed through her family and therefore it is never truly her story that is being told. Furthermore, this can then be interpreted as how in Korean culture how ones family views one is the most important thing above all else. Ruth has always been different yet what ignites her intense desire to change is when Bobbo labels her as a she devil. This then prompts her to take drastic steps in order to achieve this. She decides to cast away her social self, in other words the roles she previously occupied as a wife and mother. As she is being divorced by Bobbo her role as wife is not something she can discarded as it is already being taken away from her, yet her role as a mother is a different story. The first steps she takes in order to change herself is to burn the family home down in Eden Grove, “toning prettily and safely with avocado walls” (23, 8). This is a symbol that shows how she has burned down her role as a mother and can now consequently never return to it. This is due to the home representing comfort and safety which is also what a mother is supposed to be. However, it is also because the walls had the colour of an avocado, which look like a uterus after a woman has given birth, and therefore a mother. This is further emphasised when she leaves her kids with Bobbo, effectively abandoning them and then passing on her role to Mary.

The street Ruth and her family live on is called Eden grove which could be a metaphor for the Garden of Eden. Eden Grove is described as “green, leafy, prosperous and, some say, beautiful” (7, 29) which is eerily similar to how the Garden of Eden is portrayed. This metaphor is then extended to the three essential characters as each of them depict a different figure in the stories of Lilith and Adam and Eve. Bobbo depicts Adam as not only is he the only man but he wishes to control Ruth and have her comply with his wishes, Ruth is therefore Lilith, Adam’s first wife. Eden is supposed to be paradise but is just a pretty prison as Ruth only wants to be loved and respect by Bobbo but he denies her this and so she leaves to take control of her own life, akin to Lilith. Eve is then represented by Mary, the ideal woman in the eyes of Bobbo because she is everything that Ruth is not. Yeong-hye’s decision to become a vegetarian was all due to a dream that centred on animals being treated extremely violently which then left her with no desire to take any part in the consumption of meat and became a vegetarian. Although she never explains this, she shouldn’t have to, but, her sudden shift into such strong moral values are seen as rebellion against society and her family as she is not doing exactly as they want her to. While her family try hard to coerce her into meat again at the family get-together nothing works and when they demand answers her only response “was to set the chopsticks she had picked up back down on the table. ” (37, 7). This is her first act of defiance, by not submitting to their wishes and not answering their questions she acknowledges that she is going against the norm but will stand firm in her beliefs. Both of the main characters go through a physical transformation, although Ruth’s transformation is something she actively sought after and achieved, while Yeong-hye’s desired transformation is impossible but her actual one was due to the consequence of her actions. Ruth’s transformation reveals a lot of her motivation on why she becomes a ‘she-devil’. Even though she has accomplished so much, instead of accepting herself and learning that there is nothing wrong with her she still wants more. But this has nothing to with greed and everything to do with her deep seated want to be desired and her envy of Mary Fisher, “Since I cannot change them, I will change myself. ” (203, 9). Despite her repeated claim that she is a she-devil and that they feel nothing Ruth is still desperate to fit into society. The reason she chooses to change herself to look like Mary Fisher is because, as stated previously, Ruth sees Mary as the Ideal woman and her total opposite. Additionally, Mary is also the one who Bobbo loved in a way that he did not love Ruth, which is all she had every wanted from him. Ruth’s physical transformation is also foreshadowed from the very early on in the novel when she is referred to as an ugly duckling by both her mother (11, 10) and Bobbo (28, 12).

Just like the ugly duckling in the children’s story Ruth is unloved and unwanted by those around her and once she embraces the label of she-devil she becomes an entirely different person mentally which then allows her to change herself to become beautiful and someone who is admired by all. For Yeong-hye her physical transformation is not something she willingly sought out but is a direct consequence of her refusing food altogether. She believes that she no longer need food and only sunlight as she has now become a tree. However, obviously she is not and so becomes thinner and thinner as time goes on. Thus, unlike Ruth her transformation is not physical but is of more of a spiritual nature. one of the ways in which she tries to act like and live as a tree is that she does hand stands at every opportunity. “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. Endlessly, endlessly…yes, I spread my legs because I wanted flowers to bloom from my crotch; I spread them wide… “(127, 21), It is possible that she believes that if she does this for long enough she will actually become a tree. This is further supported by her exclamation that she feels a kinship with trees, “all the trees of the world are like brothers and sisters. ”(144, 24). This shows how she now feels connected to and apart of nature. Additionally, at several point in the novel Yeong-hye strips of her top and bears her breasts in public in order to ‘absorb’ sunlight, “unbutton her hospital gown and bare her breasts to the sun. ” (138, 28). By doing this she is not giving her body nutrients, as a plant would do, but her soul because by exposing her chest she is effectively also exposing her heart which can be equated as the ones spirit. Throughout the novels Ruth and Yeong-hye achieve a great deal, from become a successful business owner to peace within themselves, but their main goals are not achieved and never will be. Within most of the life and loves of a she devil Ruth’s only goal seems to be enact revenge on Bobbo and Mary for the misery they both had put her through. Yet, towards the end it is revealed that she wanted to and then physically became Mary fisher due to her intense envy of the woman.

However, this goal in the end was completely futile as just as Mr. Ghengis, one of Ruth’s surgeons, says “’though you can change the body you cannot change the person. ” (202, 26). Even though Ruth goes to great and painful lengths to embody Mary Fisher she is and will always be Ruth. Furthermore, this can also been seen with her moles; at the start of the novel one of the attributes Ruth is characterised by is the moles on her chin, which after her plastic surgery struggle to reappear (237, 26) which illustrates how even after everything parts of who she was are still trying to resurface and that no matter how much she wishes to escape her former self, no matter the amount of aliases she conjures up to hid herself, that person is still her. On the other hand, similarly, Yeong-hye’s initial goal was to just avoid all meat and meat by products, yet this quickly escalates into an impossible desire to become a tree. However, although she does numerous things in order to live a more plant like existence, such as trying to absorb sunlight or doing handstand at every opportunity, this obviously does not happen but she instead becomes more animal like as time goes on. “Biting their arms savagely and letting out an incomprehensible roar. ” (137, 2), By using zoomorphism to show that Yeong-hye is trying to strip away layers of herself and in pursuit of trying to become a simpler being, a tree, has instead devolved into an animal relying on primal instinct. In contrast, this could also be viewed as her body becoming more animalistic but her soul being that of a tree. This is because in multiple parts of the novel the surrounding the mental institution she is held in is also given animalistic traits, “the rippling flanks of a massive animal, wild and savage” (182, 31). By using the same type of zoomorphism to both the forest and Yeong-hye it shows how they are so very alike instead of two separate entities and that in some way she has in some small way achieved her goal.

Conclusion

Both characters in some sense get what they want. They both set out to become different people, to discard the person that cared what others thought and who constrained them into tiny boxes that they were forced to exist within. At the start of the novel both character were passive women who lived by their husbands and family’s oppressive rule. But just by being themselves, by doing what they thought they should their lives change and they begin to take back what is theirs. Ruth becomes a strong and fierce individual that proves that she is more than capable and willing to do what she needs in order to get what she wants. Yeong-hye, in comparison shows herself to be a compassionate and extraordinary person who is willing to defy everyone and everything she has ever known for what she believes is the right thing to do, even at the cost of her wellbeing. While morally both these characters reside in grey with how they achieve all of these things it is of no question that they will only take part in a world that does not allow them to live as who they want to be.