Eva Iofe Week 6 -- Eat Your Lover

 There are many love languages in the world, each varying from person to person. The most famous five are physical touch, words of affirmation, gift-giving, acts of service, and quality time. Well, what if I introduced one that book lovers seem to be paying more attention to these days; have you ever heard of cannibalism?

Taboo in the real world, as well as in most fictional ones, many authors still use cannibalism as a metaphor for undying love, as well as usually twisted or unhealthy relationships (people are being eaten, after all). Cannibalism has penetrated art and cultures worldwide for centuries. Originating from the word Caribales, the Spanish word that Christopher Columbus describe the West Indies tribe as when he heard of their unusual practices (the eating people part). Now, most people do not practice cannibalism as often, usually because victims would die and the sampling of meat from your friend would very quickly turn into a murder case.

***The rest of this blog post contains minor spoilers for Twilight: Breaking Dawn and the Tokyo Ghoul manga, as well as a drawing of someone with a half-eaten face.

Many examples of cannibalism can be argued that they're not actually cannibalism. Vampires (and the occasional zombie) are a popular example of a halfway execution of this taboo troupe. For example, in Stephanie Meyers' Twilight, the main character (a human girl) falls in love with an edgy vampire. His family are "vegetarian" vampires, meaning that they only drink animal blood, but most other vampires in the Twilight universe do, even with the knowledge that they were once human; they don't even feel regret, nor do they see themselves as human. That would be run-of-the-mill vampire fiction... until the main character drinks human blood to nurture her own child (half-human, half-vampire), willing to die for her daughter. This form of cannibalism, instead of a vampire who doesn't consider themself the same species as their victim, performed by a desperate, soon-to-be mother is an example of the devotion and all-consuming love for the sake of her daughter was an enjoyable twist (and, without romantic undertones)!

On the other hand, vampires can get boring and overdone after so long of reading about them. In Tokyo Ghoul, the main character, Kaneki Ken, is suddenly transformed into a half-Ghoul (a creature that feasts on humans). Ghouls were known to sometimes resort to cannibalism when there were no humans around (or simply to gain strength), but most found the idea abhorrent, just like humans found the idea of being eaten as absolute evil. Kaneki, however, did not have a choice in becoming a cannibal, as anyone he ate would be, in some way, his species. In order to combat his newfound desires, Kaneki shows a tremendous amount of self-restraint, mostly to not inconvenience his human best friend, Hide. While Kaneki eventually succumbs to his cannibalistic urges later on in the story, his love of humanity (and Hide) motivates him to resist and eventually succumb to his desires to protect the ones he loves. He ends up eating Hide after Hide offered himself to Kaneki, however, Kaneki could not help but eat part of his best friend's mouth, intertwining their blood and flesh together. 

The difference between Kaneki Ken and Bella Swan (Twilight's protagonist), is that Bella willingly drank human blood to nurture her baby, whilst Kaneki held himself back with extreme pain just to avoid losing his best friend, even when his body severely disagreed with him. Eventually, he succumbed to his urges, though that was also because of his love for his friend (and probably some torture), thinking that he needed to protect his loved ones. The thing about Bella and Kaneki is that they both became cannibals out of love, not necessity. Bella didn't have to drink the human blood, but she did even with the knowledge that she would likely die giving birth; Kaneki could listen to his survival instinct and body's request for food, but lose his friend, a path that Kaneki would rather die than take. They were both overcome by the need to be closer to their loved ones, consuming flesh.

Cannibalism doesn't have to represent just the consumer's love. In Tokyo Ghoul, however, Hide offered himself up to his best friend, wanting Kaneki to nourish himself with his (Hide's) flesh. Hide loved his friend to the point that he was okay with being eaten if it meant that his friend was going to be all right. In Twilight, Carlisle Cullen, famous for his dislike of human blood, gives his daughter-in-law, Bella blood to nourish his granddaughter, willing to overcome his morals for his new family members.

What is your opinion on using cannibalism as a metaphor for all-consuming, hungry (pun-intended) love?