In the first part : It showed how the husband thought, so little of Yeoung Hye. He thought of her as a very ordinary woman despite her peculiar habits and out of place thought process. ever since the beginning she defied the social norms such as not wearing bra. Not wearing bra is also considered as a movement under feminism in South Korea. Along with it, Yeoung Hye's explanations was normal or superficial. She becomes a vegetarian though in reality- she was a vegan. As she did not even like to drink milk and eat eggs. This made her husband complain to her family. In short Yeoung hye father slapped her and the whole family tried to force feed her a piece of pork. Except her older sister. In last she slashed her wrist with a knife. her husband divorced her.

After that, her brother in law developed a fascination of her mongolian mark which was on her buttock. He had the imagery of drawing flowers on her censored parts. In an artistic view. At last he painted on Yeoung hye and J. In hye, sister of protagonist found them and called emergency services.

Yeong hye now in hospital, at first gained weight but after some time she stopped eating altogether according to her, or of what she thought- she saw herself as a tree who only needed sunlight to live.

At last In Hye thought of dream and explained to Yeoung Hye that she has to wake up finally and accepted her sister.

My understanding

Yeong hye vegetarianism- though in reality was veganism was symbolic to her deviance from societal norms. Along with her habit of not wearing bra.

Her dreams in italics which were printed in the book explained her dreams. It was horrific for her to eat meat to think of how many lives she had taken away.

With her husband's monologue : He did not understand personal choice, he only considered health reasons, religious reasons and preference to confront in beauty standards to lose weight as the appropriate reasons to not eat meat. He did not respect her personal choice of diet. Also it became the big problem for him only when he was denied of sex from his wife. He did not consider talking to his wife's family when she was talking without personal sense, but only approached them when his sexual needs were not full filled.

Yeong hye's family was surprisingly too indulged to her life and eating. Yes they were concerned of her health issue but they were far more concerned for their honour and shame in society. All they did was to talk about 'a well balanced diet'.

I was surprised that not a single mentioned the intake of supplements and veg only meals to sustain her.

In mental hospital, thus her strange idea of becoming a tree began. Or perhaps the seed of that thought was sown at the very moment of her brother in law wanting to paint flowers/plants on her private parts. Afterwards she did compare her vagina to a flower. Well this comparison was accurate.

At the end In Hye comes into realization that, who is she and others to dictate Yeoung hye about her life and eating habits. She has her own body. Our body are our private property through which we can and like to modify however we want. Why do others feel obligate to comment in our preference ? Was the theme of the novel.

In the very last paragraph it gave the meaning that thinking about trees or watching them is her protest as IN Hye looks at them fiercely.

THE TREES poem by Adriene Rich symbolises womens' struggle and empowerment. Perhaps Yeong-hye wanting to become a tree is a metaphor related to this very poem.

sorry for grammatical and spelling errors due to typing.