Alice Walker's Ideas On Race In Meridian

Alice Walker's second novel Meridian tells a story that happened in the American south during the 1960s and early'70s. It is about the life of the main character, Meridian, a black woman from a southern town, who marries, has a child, gets a divorce, sends her child away, and it ends up in Meridian's working in voters' registration campaign, encouraging African-Americans to register. The novel differs from Walker's other novels either in form, style or characterization. It takes a complicated look at the black-on-white and black-on-black relations. A large section of the novel deals with a marriage between a white woman and a black man. Walker's construction of the new racial relationship is the shining part of the novel. It demonstrates Walker's deep concern about the racial condition and the Civil Rights Movement. Her pursuit for the resolution of the racial problems lies in her understanding of the African history and tradition and in her persuasion of the black's participation in politics.Walker bases her racial thoughts on the racial ideas of two figures: Zora Neale Hurston and Martin Luther King. The former one provides her the idea of racial health and animistic spirituality emphasising on the inner self of black people and their relationship with nature, and the latter offers her the power of nonviolent resistance and love with more concerns about the racial politics. With their influences, Walker's racial thoughts are reflected from three parts: First of all, she admits that the racial conditions and the Civil Rights Movements exist objectively. She sees that the widely existed racial segregation and racism have led to the dispossession of black's children, land and job. She also notices the force of religion can be a communal spirit, togetherness, and righteous convergence to blacks. Walker pays high tribute to the Civil Rights Movement, a social and political movement, and its influence on black people's life. Secondly, she tackles with the existent racial problems and explores the solutions. As a matter of fact, the problems caused by color and faced by women always trouble black men and women as well as the writer herself. In Walker's opinion, there are no better ways than to resort to the African heritage and tradition and participation of political activism. Last and the most importantly, she endeavors to construct the new racial relationship. Because the Civil Rights Movement regards black and white people as equals, Walker finds some new possibilities for intra-racial and interracial friendships and creates a relation between love and conflict.