Meridian by Alice Walker

First published: 1976

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Social realism

Time of plot: 1950-1970’s

Locale: Georgia, Mississippi, and New York City

Principal characters

• Meridian Hill, a civil rights worker and college student
• Truman Held, a civil rights worker, college student, and Meridian’s lover
• Lynne Rabinowitz, Meridian’s friend, and a volunteer
• Gertrude Hill, Meridian’s mother
• Eddie, Meridian’s husband
• The Wild Child, a pregnant orphan

The Story:

Truman Held returns to Chickokema, Georgia, to find his former lover Meridian Hill. He stops to ask directions and witnesses Meridian confronting an old military tank, originally purchased by the town during the 1960’s and now functioning as an amusement for poor kids. Truman then goes to Meridian’s stark house, where he and Meridian eventually have a discussion that hints at their past history, both as lovers and as participants in the Civil Rights movement.

Meridian remembers her time as a student at Saxon College, and her story is as follows: Meridian is involved with the Wild Child, an orphaned pregnant girl to whom she shows compassion. Meridian brings the child to her room at college, bathes her, and feeds her. The next morning, the Wild Child runs out of the house and is hit by a car as she crosses the street. College officials refuse to allow a funeral for the Wild Child, so Meridian and her friends riot, in the process chopping down The Sojourner, a symbolic, historical tree central to the campus.

Meridian’s mother and father are religiously legalistic. Her father owns a piece of land with a unique mound called Serpent’s Tail. He deeds the land back to a Cherokee Indian because the Cherokee once owned the land. Eventually, the land is made into a historical site, but is closed to African Americans.

Meridian lacks preparation for love; she is socially ignorant and has no knowledge of sex or sexuality. She eventually becomes pregnant, then marries her boyfriend, Eddie. Given its awkward beginning, her love for Eddie does not last. She also is becoming more keenly aware of social and political tensions. When she unexpectedly gets a scholarship for college, she gives up Eddie and her child for the chance to attend, against the wishes of her mother, Gertrude Hill. Meridian is followed by guilt, but continues to involve herself in political issues. Meridian’s desire for equality is contrasted with the relatively resigned life of her mother.

Meridian falls ill. She collapses and is bed-ridden for a month. She battles this condition for some time, as the illness comes to affect her mood and her energy.

Back in school, Meridian meets Truman, and they become lovers. They spend much of their time and energy registering blacks to vote. Meridian also meets Lynne Rabinowitz, who has come to the South from New York to participate in the Civil Rights movement. Lynne will soon become entangled with Truman, further complicating Meridian’s attempts to find peace and purpose. Lynne is often ignored by the black rights-workers, or is simply taken for granted; she often turns to Meridian for consolation. Later, Lynne is raped by one of Truman’s friends. Truman, meanwhile, moves on to other lovers. He eventually reunites with Meridian, but she refuses his sexual advances.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated, leading Meridian to reflect on the Civil Rights movement in general and on her personal involvement in the movement and her growth in particular. She remains friends with Truman and seems free from sexual and other kinds of entanglements.

Years later, in the early 1970’s, Meridian is still actively involved in voter registration, political activism, and civil rights organization. She continues working, as the work for social justice continues.

Bibliography

Barnett, Pamela E. “’Miscegenation,’ Rape, and ’Race’ in Alice Walker’s Meridian.” Southern Quarterly 39, no. 3 (2001): 65-81. This article focuses on Meridian’s interracial rape scene and its implications for the novel. Readers are torn between “repulsion and sympathy,” as the article tries to locate where a feminist, antiracist reader would comfortably “align” herself or himself.

Brown, Joseph A. “’All Saints Should Walk Away’: The Mystical Pilgrimage of Meridian.” Callaloo 39 (Spring, 1989): 310-320. This article discusses a “mystical journey” within the larger “Afro-American religious tradition” that details and makes possible the personal growth of the main character in Meridian.

Collins, Janelle. “’Like a Collage’: Personal and Political Subjectivity in Alice Walker’s Meridian.” CLA Journal 44, no. 2 (December, 2000): 161-188. This article recognizes the nonlinear structure of the novel and argues that Walker refuses to “privilege one discourse” over another. The competing discourses are necessary to understand the novel’s message. Also examines the unique quality of the Civil Rights movement as experienced by young black women.

Danielson, Susan. “Alice Walker’s Meridian, Feminism, and the ’Movement.’” Women’s Studies 16, nos. 3/4 (1989): 317-330. This article notes the relationship between personal growth and the larger Civil Rights movement. Establishes a feminist lens for reading the novel, suggesting that feminism helps one to understand change and cultural vitality.

Dixon, Henry O. Male Protagonists in Four Novels of Alice Walker: Destruction and Development in Interpersonal Relationships. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007. Examines the roles that male characters play in four of Walker’s early novels, including Meridian and The Color Purple.

Lauret, Maria. Alice Walker. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. Offers provocative discussion of Walker’s ideas on politics, race, feminism, and literary theory. Of special interest is the exploration of Walker’s literary debt to Zora Neale Hurston, Virginia Woolf, and even blues singer Bessie Smith.

Pifer, Lynn. “Coming to Voice in Alice Walker’s Meridian: Speaking Out for the Revolution.” African American Review 26, no. 1 (Spring, 1992): 77-88. Argues that Meridian’s individuality has been repressed by patriarchal institutions. Meridian’s newfound understanding of her cultural history frees her to speak confidently rather than live on the margins at the mercy of other repressive voices.

White, Evelyn C. Alice Walker: A Life. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004. A full-length biography of Walker that recognizes the interdependence between Walker’s activism and her art. Includes many references to Meridian. Also includes a list of publications, source notes, and an index.

Yoon, Seongho. “Gendering the Movement: Black Womanhood, SNCC, and Post-Civil Rights Anxieties in Alice Walker’s Meridian.” Feminist Studies in English Literature 14, no. 2 (Winter, 2006): 179-207. Examines the historical problem of seeing civil rights only in terms of a black/white binary. Also analyzes the role of women, black women in particular, whose understated leadership roles are often unappreciated.