the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

3.3.1. In Alice Walker's Meridian, Meridian is torn
between her actual feelings and the behaviour expected from
her towards her mother and towards motherhood.
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The
institution of motherhood demands from her that she love her
mother whlle her innate self revolts.
it is death not to love one's mother or so it
seemed to Meridlan, and so, understanding her
mother as a wllling-know-nothing, a woman of
ignorance and - in her ignorance - of cruelty, she
loved her more than anything (M.17).
~kis love, of whlch she is unsure, soon turns lnto an
aversion toward everything her mother represents
As her
bellefs do not colnclde wlth those of her mother's, she
Incurs her mother's disapproval. "Her mother's love was
gone, withdrawn and there were condltlons to be met before
lt would be returned
meet" lM.17)
Conditions Merldian was never able to
Although she fights hard agalnst her mother's
influence, Meridian feels constantly haunted by her
She
feels guilty of steallng her mother's serenity, for
shattering her mother's emerglng self, though she 1s unable
to declpher how thls could posslbly be her fault. This love
- hate drama alternates in the relatlonshlp of Meridian to
her mother - anger at her turns to anger for her and again,
anger at her
3.3 .1.1. Though the novel contains many parallels to
Walker's own life, fact and fiction diverge at thls point -