Part 1 of Essay
Many comparisons can be drawn between the novels Meridian, by Alice Walker, and Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. The protagonists of both books are African-American females searching in a confused, bewildered world. Meridian is the story of the title character’s life from childhood to the Civil Rights ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... Meridian’s mother was a product of the southern culture around the time Janie would have lived. She lived as a schoolteacher in her young adult years. She simply fell into the cultural trap of love and marriage. Walker describes the ‘love’ Meridian’s mother felt as “toleration for his (Meridian’s father’s) habits ”(50). This woman had no want of children. She was completely unprepared for what they would mean to her life. Children shattered Meridian’s mother. Meridian would have loved for her mother to brea ....