Meridian Timeline and Summary

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• Meridian is born into a poor family in the rural South.
• After getting pregnant in her teens, Meridian marries a boy named Eddie. She doesn't like him much.
• Eddie cheats on her and eventually up and leaves. That same day, Meridian becomes involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
• Soon after, Meridian is offered a scholarship to Saxon College, a university near Atlanta. It also happens to be near Truman, a hunk whom she met while working with the Movement.
• At Saxon, Meridian becomes friends with a fellow activist named Anne-Marion and becomes even more politically involved.
• Although she grows closer to Truman, he eventually breaks things off so he can date white exchange students.
• Later, they sleep together and Meridian gets pregnant. She gets an abortion without telling him.
• Meridian gets deathly ill and falls into an unconscious state that lasts days. After she wakes up, Anne-Marion tells her that they can't be friends anymore.
• After floating around a few years, Meridian decides to head to the poor communities of the South and live among the people there.
• Meridian does a lot of good work, but her health is declining. She's gone bald and faints on a regular basis.
• Although Truman keeps visiting her, she rebuffs his advances. She even visits him and his wife, Lynne, after their daughter is murdered.
• Later, Meridian takes Truman with her while she tries to register voters. Truman is greatly affected by what he sees.
• After writing a poem on the nature of guilt—and meeting a girl who murdered her child—Meridian has become miraculously cured. Her hair is back and she's stopped fainting.
• She leaves Truman alone, presumably leaving him too to pick up her work where she left off.