A Study On Imagery In The Novel Series The Vegetarian

Han Kang is one of the most influential contemporary female writers in South Korea.Since the publication of her debut poem Winter in Seoul in 1993,she has continued to contribute her literary creativity and unique ideas to the Korean literary scene,publishing seven full-length novels,three collections of fiction,and one collection of poetry.The cohesive and subtle diction style polished in the process of poetry writing and the poetic language features bring a unique aesthetic to her fiction writing.The creative technique of using a lot of imageries to express emotions and the will is also used in the novel,not only to cast a hazy veil over the tragedy,but also to achieve a natural and soft stylistic unity while rooting the sense of female autonomy and viewpoint in the creation of her novel.This collision of poetic beauty and harsh reality forms Han Kang’s literary style.She makes her literary works into a position to explore the essence of life,full of philosophical thoughts and rich in depth.The series of novels The Vegetarian,published in 2007,really brought Han Kang into popular culture.It contains three published novels,The Vegetarian,Mongolian Mark and Flaming Trees.The title alone reveals Han Kang’s sensitivity and ease in capturing imagery: The "The Vegetarian" symbolizes the main character Yeong-hye’s rebellion against patriarchal society;The "Mongolian Mark" symbolizes Yeong-hye’s adherence to her virginity and true nature;The "Flaming Trees" is symbolizes,to a large extent,the outbreak of transcendence and the power of life’s origin.In addition to the implicit ideograms in the chapter titles,the novel is interspersed with voluminous,repetitive and iterative main imageries,so exploring and analyzing the metaphorical colors of the main imageries of The Vegetarian series is conducive to a deeper understanding of Han Kang’s artistic characteristics.This dissertation takes the imageries in The Vegetarian series as an entry point to analyze its connotation and narrative techniques.The whole paper is divided into three chapters.The first chapter analyzes the main imageries in The Vegetarian series through a close reading of the text,and explores the symbolic connotations behind the imageries.The main images selected are "meat" "knife" and "breast",which lead to the inevitable conflict,and " mongolian mark" and "flower",which symbolize sin and self-liberation,and the "tree" and "bird" that are symbolic of life’s pursuit.These imageries are deeply rooted in the fabric of the novel and are one of the most important narrative and meaningful elements of the novel.Chapter 2 analyzes the functions of these imageries in the novel.The second chapter analyzes the functions of the imageries in the novel,mainly on two levels: the narrative function and the aesthetic function of the imageries.The narrative function mainly emphasizes the role of imageries in portraying characters and controlling the rhythm of the narrative,thus constructing the theme.The aesthetic function mainly explores the characteristics of the noir style linked by the imageries,including nightmare imagery,color imagery,rain imagery and closed space imagery,and explores the thematic connotation of the novel beyond the traditional noir novel,which is concerned with the state of human existence.Chapter 3 extends from the exploration of the imageries in the text to the analysis of the reasons for the choice of imageries,and discusses them in terms of social and personal reasons.Among the social reasons,the first is the habitual use of the cultural phenomenon of “Han” in children’s narratives,which explains the reasons for the use of imageries.The second is the aesthetic influence of the traditional South Korean culture on the creation of Han Kang’s art.Finally,the spread of feminism in South Korea has influenced Han Kang’s own feminist creations.Among the personal reasons,the first is the literature that influenced Han Kang,such as the Buddhist narratives of her father Han Seung-won,the literary style of novelist Lim Cheol-woo,and the literary imagination of Jorge Luis Borges.The second is Han Kang’s aesthetic pursuit,such as using the dual qualities of impact and obscurity of imagery to show the characters’ selfobservation and reflection as well as the elusive nature of life,but also to delve into the interrelationship between the soul and the body,helping the novel to go to the next level on a philosophical level.Finally,Han Kang’s unique view of bioethics requires imagery as a basis for its construction and illustration.Han Kang uses the "concentrated" character of imageries to build an aesthetic atmosphere of "endless meaning",which is a manifestation of his deep influence on the aesthetic expression shared by the East Asian cultural circle.Through the array of imageries,the novel actually points to the contradictory struggle between the individual and others,between the ego and the anti-self."Can we endure a world so mixed with violence and beauty?" is the key question Han Kang sets for the readers in the novel.An exploration of the imageries in the novels of The Vegetarian series helps to provide insight into Han Kang’s creative thought and reveals the social customs and human landscape of contemporary South Korea.