Abstract

Alice Walker is a famous American black feminist writer. She has devoted all her life to explore the way to resist the racial discrimination and the sexual discrimination of the American black women. How to grow under the oppression and how to struggle for liberty is always the theme of Walker’s exploration. In her second novel Meridian, she has tried and explored the way black women break through the chains, awake and become mature in mind. What chains the black women have faced in their life? How could they break them step by step? What kind of people do they finally turn into?

This thesis is based on the life experiences of Meridian, using the text analysis as research methods to study Meridian’s awaking process. First, the paper elaborates the background and Meridian’s oppressed life experiences. Second, it analysis her awakening and her try to contact the world, improve her self-cognition and social-cognition. The third part, she totally released in the civil rights practice. She fined the spiritual support and determination to her revolution life.

This thesis not only enables the readers to know the barriers and puzzle of Meridian’s self awakening and improvement from innocence to maturity but also to let them feel the volition and determination of the black women in struggling for their independence and realization the value of their life.

Key words: racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, black woman, awakening, struggle, grow