Abstract

Virtue is one of the essential elements in a human being’s social and ethical way of life. It makes people embrace personal trauma and social strife and conveys the power of good vitality to their surroundings. Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian, published in 2007, represents a revolutionary idea through the protagonist Yeong-hye’s vegetarianism from the perspective of virtuous values. Her diet is unsuitable for her health; however, it is a means to rearrange her past and to help heal the trauma of the rampant violence she has experienced in herself, her family, society, and history of South Korea without the need to sacrifice any human lives. The virtuous values that Yeong-hye pursues ultimately demonstrate the spirit of empathy, harmony, caring, and true freedom, which further proves that it is an ideal moral theory for the general community—one that requires extensive understanding and inclusion for virtuous power. In this novel, Han Kang illustrates that a woman in a cannibalistic society can express her virtuous vitality by practicing ideal, intellectual, innovative, and moral virtue and contribute to the building of a virtuous society through her noble motivation and execution.