Stages of Resistance in Alice Walkers Meridian

Stages of Resistance in Alice Walker’s Meridian

In this compelling novel by Alice Walker, Meridian, the main character, grows up through the eyes of the reader. The author shows us the emotional, physical, and psychological stages of resistance that Meridian goes through during the height of the civil rights movement. In fact, if one looks at the life of Alice Walker, the author of the novel, similarities undeniably exist between the two women.

First let us examine the early signs of resistance in Meridian. One of the first obvious examples of Meridian’s individuality is when she rejects religion at a very young age despite her mother’s devout Christian beliefs.

In school, she is unable to finish a speech because she knows that there is no truth in the words she speaks. “Meridian was trying to explain to her mother that for the first time she really listened to what she was saying, knew she didn’t believe it, and was so distracted by this revelation that she could not make the rest of her speech.” (Walker, 121) This passage reveals the intellect that overpowers her emotion developing in Meridian. Yet another example is how Meridian is able to be a nonconformist when she gives up family life and motherhood when sh

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The reader sees Meridian enter college after she has made all of these decisions, and she has also volunteered to work for voter registration, a decision that foreshadows further resistance throughout the novel. ” (Walker, 191) Meridian also acts as a mediator, ironically, between Truman and his wife Lynne. Throughout the novel, Meridian provides the reader with examples of her resistance to racial suppression and segregation and prejudice. Truman has married Lynne, a white woman, Anne-Marion has forsaken her, and Meridian is just beginning to think about her views and beliefs from her perspective. It is an eye-opening novel that provides insight into the life of a young black female growing up during the civil rights movement. Her mother suffered from numerous strokes, her partner cheated on her and left her, and she developed Lyme’s disease, which weakened her physically like her character Meridian was weakened.

“When she gave him away she did so with a

light heart. Her feelings are well explained in this passage. This relationship ends disappointingly for Meridian, but it provides another excellent example of her prowess. After becoming aquainted with Truman Held, Meridian soon falls in love with him. (Price) Alice Walker is a brilliant writer and a strong woman, and her novel Meridian shows the strengths in her writing. One of the first things the reader notes is her determinism to give the wild child a chance in society, and then, after the wild child’s tragic and sudden death, give her a proper funeral. “It was Meridian who had led them to the mayor’s office, bearing in her arms the bloated figure of a five-year-old boy who had been stuck in the sewer for two days before he was raked out with a grappling hook. This is when the reader sees Meridian move into her next stage of life after overcoming severe illness at college.

Approximate Word count = 859
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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