Abstract
The madonna is a literary figure which has theological origins and implications. In two novels written by American women, there are
characters identified as madonna figures which function in theologically significant ways. A study of these characters will indicate changing
concepts of the role of women as madonnas in contemporary society. The women characters in The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin, a white woman from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1899, and in Meridian, written by Alice Walker, a black woman from Georgia, in 1976, suggest changes in the role of the madonna figure which are paradigmatic for theology as well as for culture.