Dealing with Racial Discrimination Exploring the Coping Strategies Utilised by the Protagonist in Alice Walker's Meridian

Combating, eliminating and dealing with racial discrimination is not an easy undertaking. The historical and social-political space in which it is embedded somewhat intensifies its complexity. However, communal and individual efforts ought to be made in a bid to reduce and eradicate this negative issue. Drawing on Alice Walker’s Meridian, this article attempts to explore racial discrimination and the utilisation of coping strategies to deal with this problematic issue in the aforementioned novel. The stress and coping theory is central in the analysis as it provides insights into the specific coping strategies utilised by the main character in this narrative. Textual analysis was conducted anchored on the stress and coping theory during the collection of data and a thematic analysis was rendered afterwards. The principal findings of this research are that, Meridian utilises emotion focused, avoidance and problem focused strategies to deal with the recurring issue of racial discrimination. The wide range of strategies deployed enable her to cope, press on and deal with the various race-oriented challenges she encounters, highlighting the significance of individuals acquainting themselves with strategies of this nature.