In Search Of Meaning Of Life Amid A World Of Absurdity-an Interpretation Of Alice Walker’s Meridian From The Perspective Of Existentialism

Meridian is the second novel written by Alice Walker. The novel has not beenenthusiastically embraced by critics as her masterpiece The Color Purple. Some criticseven view it as the follow-up of her first novel The Third Life of Grange Copeland,rather than a new and independent creation. Yet these years have witnessed wideattention from a body of critics who interpret Meridian from a spectrum of perspectives.Existentialism mainly studies human existence and its meaning, freedom andchoices, etc. Its representative advocate Sartre holds the view that a man’s essencewhich is generated in a process of constant changes is created after his existence. A mandefines himself and accomplishes it through his own choices.This thesis，from the perspective of existential thoughts of Sartre and Camus,analyzes and discusses the process of development of heroine Meridian in Meridian. Tobegin with, in the second chapter, the philosophical school of Existentialism and somekey concepts like absurdity, freedom, choice and responsibility, will be introduced;Then, based on intensive text analysis of the novel, chapter three demonstrates theabsurd world Meridian lives in; and the above analysis paves the way for the earlyawakening of Meridian. Chapter four demonstrates Meridian’s process of growth. Thefirst part presents a series of choices and decisions she makes；then the thesis describeshow Meridian gets rid of guilt as a result of her choices; it follows her experience in thechurch, which brings forth a significant influence on her mind and leads to her shiftfrom self-destructiveness to life-affirmation. As a supplement to this shift, humanism ispresented, arguing that humanism is closely linked with individual choices and themeaning of life. Chapter five draws the conclusion. Confronting the absurd world andlife, Meridian makes a series of choices instead of being overwhelmed by suffering andabandonment. Her self value is realized due to her strong sense of social responsibilityand humanism, which encourage her to pass on her fighting spirit.