Meridian Poverty Quotes

Although both issues are often ignored by the populace at large, race and class are deeply intertwined. Here's the brass tax—you can convince every single racist white person on the planet to stop disliking black people, but it won't matter one bit if most black people are still living in poverty. In other words, you can treat the symptoms until the cows come home, but that's not going to cure the illness.

This is insane. This guy basically owns a freak show—not to mention the fact that he murdered his wife—yet he looks down on the poor citizens of Chicokema. Who does this guy think he is? Of course, race plays a big part here, but it's not the only reason. The sad truth is that you can do all the trash-talking you want as long as you have the dollar bills to back it up.

We all know what ultimately happens to Wild Child—she gets killed after Meridian tries to save her. At first, we thought that Wild Child was probably just nervous and confused, but we forgot about this. She was probably just terrified that she might get kidnapped and turned into a guinea pig like her friend. The reality of poverty seems stranger than fiction.

Although Wild Child can't afford to donate any new buildings to the college, that shouldn't matter—everyone deserves to have a decent funeral. In fact, we'd argue that this would be the best use of that robber baron money. The thing that's really upsetting is the fact that the college seems so oblivious about all these things. You'd think that they'd be more interested in giving back to the community, rather than pushing against it.

This scene reflects the internal collapse Civil Rights Movement. At first, students and working-class folks fought on the same side, driven by a sincere desire to see justice. But while students were driven by idealism and anger, poor people simply wanted to be treated with some dignity. They were all too used to being turned away and denied—as they are here—and were much more sensitive to it.

Anne-Marion wants everyone to be rich; Meridian wants no one to be rich. Whose side do you take? While Meridian's is a much more difficult goal to attain, her desire to build a community that truly supports itself is quite inspiring, even if it is ultimately impossible. Anne-Marion's desire for wealth and comfort, on the other hand, drives her away from the Movement.

Like Anne-Marion, Truman wants to be rich. That's the difference between the two of them and Meridian—Meridian practices what she preaches. It should be no surprise that Meridian is much more dedicated to the cause as well.

Everything culminates with this. Although we have serious doubts that Meridian could actually kill someone (she seems way too kind-hearted), she feels so passionate about her cause that she believes that she could. At the start of the novel, Meridian would never have said "yes" to this proposition, but seeing the reality of poverty in America has changed her. The question is: was she changed for better or for worse?

Rich people aren't all that concerned with a public swimming pool—after all, they all have their own private pools in their backyards. For the city's poor black residents, however, this is nothing less than a slap in the face—and a life-threatening one at that.

From what we see of him, this guy is a hard-worker—his fire-log business requires a ton of work for little pay. So would it really have made a difference if he was allowed to look out his window at work? How would you feel if you got fired from your job for something like that? To the factory-owner, however, people like Johnny are replaceable—just another cog in a giant machine.