A single person, at any time, will have several different identities that they embody. Our identity is constantly evolving, with every event, every action and every interaction our identity evolves. But for many women, their role and, to some extent, their identity according to society, must be static. A woman is a mother, a whore, a wife or a virgin - these are for the most part the only labels they are given or can identify with. This is especially evident in more traditional cultures where a woman's identity is based solely on her family and husband. In Fey Weldon's, the life and loves of a she-devil, Ruth's constant mistreatment and oppression by her husband lead her to challenge the role society has assigned her and to discard her old identity as a mother, wife and woman to embrace the label of Her. -Devil. Meanwhile, in Han Kang's The Vegetarian, Yeong-hye's passive deviations from societal and family expectations transform into outright resistance and defiance of norms. While the motivation is different for each of the characters as to why they decided to discard their personal identity, their journeys are quite similar. In this investigation I intend to show through language and narrative how the oppression of their family and society forced them to completely discard the person they were and how through their own means, including physical change, they decide to reinvent, recreate and take control over your identity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Comparison and Analysis of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil and The Vegetarian Both novels are set within cultures, 1980s England and 2000s Seoul, that place much value on tradition and compliance with the law. Ruth is a woman who is outwardly seen as everything a woman should not be and at the beginning of the novel she constantly compares herself to her husband's mistress, Mary Fisher, "I am as dark as Mary Fisher is beautiful" (9, 7 ). This reveals that Ruth sees Mary as the ideal woman and her opposite and is also extremely envious of her for having Bobbo in a way that she cannot. However, if her appearance is neglected, she actually conforms very well to the social norms of mother and wife and says so herself, but believes that this is not desirable enough: “A man cannot be expected to be faithful to one wonderful mother and a good wife – such concepts lack the compulsion of the erotic” (9, 22). This emphasizes that what really matters when it comes to a woman is her appearance and everything else is secondary. It doesn't matter that she is the best wife and mother if she is ugly and men don't find her desirable. This is supported when she calls herself awkward in a fictional version of Bobbo after describing her first and only meeting with Mary Fisher. “'awkward' she would have said” (9, 20), Ruth frames herself in a negative way because she sees this as a criticism of Bobbo, since if she were pretty then it would be perceived as a positive or nice attribute but since she isn't, she is against she. Furthermore, the fact that Ruth conforms so well to these norms is no coincidence: she puts a lot of effort into her home and her children to try to be a good wife and mother, but also to compensate for her lack of beauty. He therefore regards them as housework, not something he actively wants to do but which he must, in favor of fulfilling his predetermined role, "make up my face first to return to my marital duties, to wifehood and motherhood, and to my in-laws " (24, 20). This revealshow far Ruth is willing to go to please those around her, even if she is forced to act this way, regardless of her desires. Unlike Ruth, Yeong-hye naturally conforms in many ways. She is described as someone who doesn't stand out in terms of her looks or the way she behaves, but that her personality is strange compared to most women. Her husband describes her as a quiet but sometimes too quiet woman, although he doesn't have too many problems with this as "after all, weren't women traditionally expected to be demure and sober?" (21, 8) which describes how even if he conforms, it is not because he wants to, but simply because he does. Yeong-hye makes no effort to conform or even not to conform until she decides to become a vegetarian. In both novels the husbands of the main characters, Ruth and Yeong-hye, married them out of convenience and not out of 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 recognized that" (22, 8), to which Ruth then rebuts by saying that it was him who was right for him, which shows that Ruth had certain expectations when she got married and that she had most likely wanted to be a traditionally married couple. While Bobbo's expectations were that he could do more or less what he wanted and that Ruth would have to agree, which is clearly illustrated when they discuss having an open marriage (30, 18-32). this agreement but declares it to Ruth who doesn't know what it means and questions him. Then he doesn't give an actual definition but says that it will make them more honest and that "true love is not possessive" (30, 30), this alludes to the fact that he knows that Ruth would not be d 'agreement but wants to trap her into agreeing so that she is bound to her word and her affairs are guilt-free. Similarly, in The Vegetarian Mr. Cheong, Yeong-hye's husband, repeatedly states that he is forced to live life as normal as possible and made all his decisions based on that to live the most stress-free life, which extended to the type 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 ordinary woman” (4, 10). Mr Cheong did not want a fussy or overbearing wife who would push him out of his comfort zone. Therefore, when Yeong-hye becomes a vegetarian, his average life is interrupted as he now has an unusual wife. However, once the main characters fail to act, or continue to fail to act according to their husband's predetermined lifestyle, in Ruth's case, it causes them to become frustrated and angry, which leads them to abandon their wives completely. Both husbands are extremely selfish and demonstrate it in similar ways. In the life and loves of a she-devil, Bobbo blames Ruth for his departure, because it is because of her behavior during his parents' visit that pushes him to seek refuge with Mary Fisher. «Simply the consequence of your actions. ” (46, 18), this perfectly describes how selfish he is because by expressing his departure as a consequence means that he sees himself as a privilege, someone whose company Ruth must earn. In comparison, while Mr. Cheong may not consider himself privileged, he is equally self-centered. At first he is quite baffled by his wife's decision to become a vegetarian and considers her rather selfish because she expects him not to eat. flesh next to her, “how come she can be so self-centered” (13, 17), But even if he claims that she isselfish of him to expect me not to eat meat, isn't it also selfish of him to not even try to understand why he suffered this decision? Other than the first time she asks, she never tries to elaborate on the meaning of the dream or why it had this effect on her, showing how he only really cares about her when it affects him. Furthermore, he thinks that if he waits everything will go back to normal, however, once he realizes that she won't change again, he becomes even more confused and believes that there is something else going on. “If it had been another example of a woman giving up meat to lose weight, then there would have been no need to worry” (15, 28), this then illustrates how he believes a woman would not do something on her own based on her own forces moral values ​​had nothing to do with how others see them Their family is another source of oppression for the main characters, both from childhood and adulthood they are criticized or punished for not. fitting in or going against family norms. In Ruth's culture, family is important, however, she receives a backlash for going against the social norms surrounding what a woman should be, while Yeong-hye's is due. to the social norms surrounding the family. Ruth's mother is described as someone who only cares about nice things, which led Ruth to internalize that her mother doesn't love her: “I think maybe she would have loved me if she could. But ugly and discordant things repelled her: she could not do without them” (11, 12). This may be the root of Ruth's initial complacency at the beginning of the novel as she has been led to believe that the only person who is supposed to love her unconditionally is not because of her ugliness. This may then have led Ruth to believe that she had to do her best to please others and follow their desires in order to be loved in return. For Yeong-hye, her husband describes her as nothing out of the ordinary, meaning she mostly conformed to how a woman should look and behave, although when it comes to family norms she strays. During the family gathering, her family tries to pressure her in many ways to convince her to eat meat. Both of Yeong-hye’s parents order her to eat meat dishes “This, 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 was the only victim of her father's beatings. " (157, 16) because In-hye helped her mother and Yeong-ho was not bothered by the violence. This really shows that because she was no different, she was no better or worse and therefore she was chosen by her father. Also , the narrative itself is an example of Yeong-hye's oppression by the family as the only time the novel is from her point of view is during her dreams at the beginning of the novel, otherwise each of the three sections is 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 really her story that is told. Furthermore, this can be interpreted as the fact that in Korean culture, how one's family sees each other is the most important thing above all else. Ruth has always been different, but what ignites her intense desire to change is when Bobbo labels her a she-devil. This then pushes her to take drastic measures to achieve this goal. She decides to give up her social self, that is, the roles she previously held as wife and mother. Since she is divorcing Bobbo, her role as wife is not something she can discard since it has already been herstaken away, however her role as a mother is a different story. The first step she takes to change herself is to burn down the family home in Eden Grove, “toning up nice and confident with avocado walls” (23, 8). This is a symbol that shows how she has burned out her role as a mother and as a result can no longer return to it. This is due to the fact that home represents comfort and security, which is also what a mother should be. But it's also because the walls were the color of an avocado, which resembled a woman's postpartum uterus, and therefore a mother. This is further emphasized when she leaves her children with Bobbo, effectively abandoning them and then passing her role on to Mary. The street where Ruth and her family live 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 depicted. This metaphor is then extended to the three essential characters as they each depict a different figure in the stories of Lilith and Adam and Eve. Bobbo describes Adam as not only being the only man, but wanting to control Ruth and make her fulfill his desires, Ruth is therefore Lilith, Adam's first wife. Eden is supposed to be paradise, but it's just a nice prison as Ruth just wants to be loved and respected by Bobbo, but he denies her that and so she leaves to take control of her own life, similar to Lilith. Eve is then represented by Mary, the ideal woman in Bobbo's eyes because she is everything that Ruth is not. Yeong-hye's decision to become a vegetarian was all due to a dream centered around the extremely violent treatment of animals which then left her with no desire to partake in meat eating and she became a vegetarian. Although he never explains it, he shouldn't have to, but his sudden shift to such strong moral values ​​is seen as a rebellion against society and his family since he isn't doing exactly what they want. As her family tries to force her to eat meat again at the family gathering, nothing works and when they demand answers her only response “was to put the chopsticks she had collected back on the table. ” (37, 7). This is her first act of defiance, by not submitting to their wishes and not answering their questions she recognizes that she is going against the norm but will remain firm in her beliefs. Both main characters go through a physical transformation, although Ruth's transformation is something she actively sought and achieved, while Yeong-hye's desired transformation is impossible but the real one was due to the consequences of her actions. Ruth's transformation reveals many of her motivations as to 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 do with greed and everything to do with her deep desire to be desired and her envy of Mary Fisher: “Since I cannot change them, I will change myself. ” (203, 9). Despite her repeated claims that she is a she-devil and that they feel nothing, Ruth still desperately wants to fit in with society. The reason she chooses to change herself to look like Mary Fisher is because, as stated in Previously, Ruth sees Mary as the ideal woman and her total opposite. Furthermore, Mary is also the one who Bobbo loved in a way he didn't love Ruth, which was all she wanted from him. Ruth's physical transformation is also foreshadowed from the beginning of novel, when she is called an ugly duckling by both her mother (11, 10) and Bobbo (28, 12).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 mentally becomes a completely different person which then allows her to change herself to become beautiful and someone admired by everyone. For Yeong-hye, the physical transformation is not something she voluntarily sought, but is a direct consequence of her total rejection of food. She believes she no longer needs food and only sunlight since she has now become a tree. However, she obviously isn't and therefore becomes thinner and thinner as time goes by. Therefore, unlike Ruth, her transformation is not physical but is more spiritual in nature. one of the ways he tries to behave and live like a tree is by waving at every opportunity. “Look, sister, I'm doing a handstand; leaves grow from my body, roots emerge from my hands... they sink into the earth. Endlessly, endlessly… yes, I opened my legs because I wanted flowers to bloom from my crotch; I spread them out..." (127, 21), It is possible that he believes that if he does this long enough he will actually become a tree. This is further supported by his exclamation that he feels an affinity with trees: “all the trees in the world are like brothers and sisters. ”(144, 24). This shows how she now feels connected and separated from nature. Furthermore, at several points in the novel Yeong-hye strips off her top and lifts her breasts in public to 'absorb' the sunlight, “unbuttons her hospital gown and exposes her breasts to the sun. "(138, 28). In this way he does not give nutrients to his body, as a plant would, but to his soul because by exposing his chest he is effectively also exposing his heart which can be equated to the spirit. Throughout the Ruth novels and Yeong-hye achieve great things, from becoming successful entrepreneurs to inner peace, but their main goals are not achieved and never will be. In most of a she-devil's life and loves, Ruth's only goal seems to be be to get revenge on Bobbo and Mary for the misery they both put her through. However, towards the end, it is revealed that she wanted to and then physically become Mary Fisherer due to her intense envy towards the woman. However, this goal was ultimately completely useless, just as Mr. Ghengis, one of Ruth's surgeons, says “'Although you can change the body, you cannot change the person'” (202, 26). Even though Ruth goes out of her way to embody Mary Fisher, she is and will always be Ruth. Furthermore, this can also be seen with his moles; at the beginning of the novel one of Ruth's defining attributes are the moles on her chin, which after plastic surgery struggle to reappear (237, 26), which illustrates how even after everything, parts of who she was are still looking to reemerge and that no matter how much she wants to escape herself, no matter how many aliases she conjures up to hide, that person is still her. On the other hand, similarly, Yeong-hye's initial goal was simply to avoid all meat and meat byproducts, but this quickly turns into an impossible desire to become a tree. However, although it does numerous things to live a more plant-like existence, such as trying to absorb sunlight or doing a handstand at every opportunity, this obviously doesn't happen but instead becomes more animalistic as time goes by. “Biting his arms savagely and letting out an incomprehensible roar. ” (137, 2), Using zoomorphism to show that Yeong-hye is trying to strip away the layers of herself and in an attempt to become a simpler being, a tree, she has instead transformed into an animal that relies on primordial instinct.