On the Narrative of "Things" in Alice Walker’s Meridian

Meridian employs a "patchwork quilt" narrative technique, recounting the life journey of the Black woman Meridian from oppression to resistance against the backdrop of the American Civil Rights Movement. The novel abounds with descriptions of "things," which participate deeply in the process of Meridian’s self-remaking. Drawing on thing narrative theory and employing close reading as its research method, this paper focuses on key object-images in the novel, such as the "Sacred Serpent," "The Sojourner," the "Tank," the "Reservoir," and the "Black Church," with the aim of examining the narrative functions and agency that "things" exert in the growth of the Black woman Meridian. The study unfolds along three dimensions. First, it analyzes the cultural symbolic function of "things," revealing how they bear the history of racial oppression and the collective memory of ethnic suffering. Second, it explores the agency of "things," elucidating that rather than serving as passive background, they actively stimulate and propel Meridian’s real-life resistance in the Civil Rights Movement through their own agency. Finally, it returns to the ontological reality of "things,"demonstrating that as tangible material existences, they prompt Meridian to accomplish a thorough spiritual awakening and identity reconstruction. By analyzing the "thing-human" interactions within the text, this paper not only reveals the undeniable propelling significance of "things" in the growth of a Black woman, but also opens up a new interpretive discourse for understanding the predicament of racial inequality and other adversities faced by Black people and other ethnic minorities in the contemporary world. 《梅丽迪安》采用“百纳被”式的叙事手法，主要讲述了美国民权运动背景下黑人女性梅丽迪安从被压迫到奋起反抗的人生历程。小说中充满了对“物”的描写，这些“物”深度参与了梅丽迪安自我重塑的过程。本文基于物叙事理论，立足文本细读的研究方法，聚焦小说中“蛇形土丘”、“寄居者树”、“坦克”、“蓄水池”、“黑人教堂”等关键物象，旨在考察“物”在黑人女性梅丽迪安成长过程中所发挥的叙事功能与能动力量。研究主要从三个维度展开：首先，分析“物”的文化符号功能，揭示其承载的种族压迫历史与族群苦难记忆；其次，探究“物”的主体性，阐明“物”并非被动背景，而是以自身能动性激发并推动梅丽迪安在民权运动中进行现实反抗；最后回归“物”的本体实在性，论证“物”以真实可感的物质存在，促使梅丽迪安完成了彻底的精神觉醒与身份重构。而通过剖析文本内部的”物—人”互动关系，不仅揭示出“物”在黑人女性成长过程中不可忽视的推动意义，也可为当今世界上黑人及其他少数族裔所面临的种族不平等等困境提供新的阐释话语。