The Last Return
- The book begins, naturally, with Part I, called Meridian.
- Truman Held has just arrived "in the small town of Chicokema" from NYC (1.1.1). He stops at a gas station, where two attendants are chilling and drinking some Coke.
- Before they can conversate, a kid runs up in a huff, shouting about a cap-clad woman who's dueling it out with a tank. We're pretty sure we speak for everybody when we say "Huh?"
- The city bought the tank when the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. To the people in charge, those pesky black people who fought for their rights were nothing more than "outside agitators" (1.1.12).
- Truman approaches the scene: there's a crowd gathered around a circus wagon, which is across the way from the aforementioned tank. Truman approaches an old street sweeper and asks what's going on.
- The sweeper explains that the wagon holds a traveling exhibit of a female mummy. Oh, good—that clears everything up. He also explains that Thursday (not for several days) is their day to view the exhibit.
- This annoys Truman—in a post-civil-rights-era world, black people should be allowed to look at mummies whenever they please. The old man laughs—the "they" he referred to are "po' folks" (1.1.20).
- Truman reads a pamphlet on the exhibit. Henry O'Shay was once a rich and happily married man and his wife, Marilene, "had been an ideal woman" (1.1.29). But now she's a mummy. Why?
- It turns out that Marilene cheated on her husband and then died. Her body was exposed to salt, which caused it to turn dark black. Truman rightfully assumes that this is all nonsense.
- A group poor kids form a line leading to the exhibit. The white townsfolk don't like this at all, as evidenced by the two dudes who climb into the tank. Talk about overkill.
- Suddenly, Truman sees the woman in the cap mentioned earlier. It's Meridian. Wait, who?
- The tank locks its sights on her. This is getting real. Fearlessly, she leads the line of children directly to the tank. Then, she simply strolls on by, "kicked open the door" of the exhibit, and led the kids inside (1.1.33). Whoa—is she a superhero?
- Later that day, Truman strolls into Meridian's house. Her walls are covered with writing: bible verses, poetry, and letters from someone named Anne-Marion. The rest of the house is a mess.
- Meridian had passed out after her tank battle. Luckily, four men from town carried her back home safe and sound, where Truman was already waiting. She wakes up and they exchange tense pleasantries.
- Truman is a little upset that she risked her health for a "meaningless action" like that (1.1.89). In truth, she did it to show the kids that the whole business was phony.
- Press rewind and don't take your finger off the button until you're ten years back, to a summer Meridian spent in New York City.
- Meridian is with a group of radical college intellectuals—Anne-Marion included. Everyone wants Meridian to say that she would "kill for the Revolution," but she just can't do it (1.1.113). Oddly, the thing holding her back is a memory of her parents singing in church.
- Finally, Meridian tells them that she's going to "go back to the people, live among them, like Civil Rights workers used to do" (1.1.159). And that's how she ended up in good old Chicokema.
- In fact, she's been traveling between towns for the past ten years, but Truman always manages to track her down. Each time he does, however, her living conditions are worse and worse.
- Meridian asks about Lynne, Truman's wife. Truman, eager to change the subject, mentions that he hasn't seen her much since Camara, their daughter, died. He changes the subject to Anne-Marion's letters.
- Anne-Marion and Meridian met at Saxon College. It was the day of John Kennedy's funeral, and Meridian was sitting alone in the dining hall, weeping. Perfect time to make a new bestie!