Breaking Social Conventions Theme Analysis

The novel is set in modern-day Seoul, South Korea, a society that is still deeply steeped in its traditions. As such, the book explores the rigidity of the social norms in a conventional, patriarchal society. People are expected to conform to standard obligations, and leaving these duties unfulfilled can have severe ramifications on a person’s life. Through the characters of Yeong-hye and her unnamed brother-in-law, Han shows that when people attempt to break, subvert, or escape the conventions of their society, they are often trapped, ostracized, or sometimes even destroyed by that society.

Yeong-hye’s decision to become a vegetarian and her choice not to wear a bra are both seen as an affront to her society. The more she disobeys her husband, Mr. Cheong, and attempts to hold on to these increasingly unconventional choices, the more that society tries to get her to conform to its standards—until she is essentially expelled from it entirely. Early in the story, Mr. Cheong comments on the fact that Yeong-hye doesn’t enjoy wearing a bra. She only becomes more adamant about this odd choice, to the point where she chooses not to wear a bra to an important dinner with Mr. Cheong’s co-workers. This dinner exposes the rigidity of societal expectations, as they cruelly remark on Yeong-hye’s vegetarianism and also judge her when they see the outline of her breasts. She is then ignored by the other women, and Mr. Cheong subsequently worries that he might be fired for Yeong-hye’s decision to disregard social norms—providing the first example of how breaking those norms is punished by others in society. Yeong-hye then starts to subvert social obligations more fully, choosing to disobey her parents and husband and violently harming herself in an attempt to escape their attempts to make her obey them and eat meat. As a result, she is hospitalized, her husband divorces her, and her parents want nothing to do with her. Thus, breaking social contracts begins to isolate her completely from others. In the hospital, when Yeong-hye stops eating, she violently tries to prevent the doctors from force-feeding her. This results in her being moved to a different hospital for surgery to keep her alive. The society refuses to allow her to escape from it entirely, even through death. Han thus exposes how the society is bent on keeping Yeong-hye alive but also ensuring that she can play no part in it, effectively rendering her life meaningless.

Yeong-hye’s brother-in-law similarly yearns to break social conventions and norms, both in his art and in his relationship with Yeong-hye. But like Yeong-hye, the brother-in-law ends up being completely rejected and destroyed by the societal norms he is trying to escape. Even the structure of the brother-in-law’s life before his obsession with Yeong-hye is unconventional. His wife, Yeong-hye’s sister In-hye, is both the primary breadwinner and the primary homemaker, allowing him to pursue his work as a video artist. Other people, including Mr. Cheong, judge the brother-in-law severely for these choices. Thus, it’s clear that exhibiting any unconventional behavior automatically gains a kind of negative connotation in the novel’s society. The brother-in-law’s disregard for convention only becomes more pronounced throughout the novel, as he becomes obsessed with a birthmark that Yeong-hye has and is intent upon filming her naked and painted in flowers. As his obsession grows, he chooses to paint himself as well, and record himself and Yeong-hye having sex. But the crossing of this relational boundary is met with both judgment and exclusion. When In-hye finds the video of them having sex, she calls the police on her husband, arguing that her sister is not mentally well and that he took advantage of her. The brother-in-law attempts to jump over the railing of the art studio, but a paramedic saves him. Thus, like Yeong-hye, he is not permitted to escape the society whose boundaries have been so limiting to him. The brother-in-law is then forced to convince a judge that he is not mentally ill, then remain in jail for months. Afterward, he immediately goes into hiding and In-hye refuses to let him have any contact with their son, Ji-woo. Thus, like Yeong-hye, the brother-in-law is not entitled to escape the rigid society, even through death. Instead, he is severely punished for trying to break its social conventions.

At the end of the novel, In-hye continues to try to care for Yeong-hye, even as In-hye’s life crumbles around her. She acknowledges what her husband and sister have done: “smashed through all the boundaries,” of society. She even recognizes the appeal of doing so; as she accompanies Yeong-hye to yet another hospital at the end of the novel, she wonders if “Perhaps this is all a kind of dream [...] I have dreams too, you know. Dreams…and I could let myself dissolve into them, let them take me over…” In-hye thus finds some peace in the idea that the limitations of reality and society are not real and that they might be escapable at any time. Yet she quickly turns back on this idea, saying, “but surely the dream isn't all there is? We have to wake up at some point, don't we?” In-hye does not come to an easy answer, but seems to understand that society does not forgive the people who dwell on dreams and allow themselves to slip out of the ideals enforced by society, as Yeong-hye and the brother-in-law tried to do.