RACE-BASED TRAUMA IN ALICE WALKER’S THE THIRD LIFE OF GRANGE COPELAND

Racial and ethnic minorities face distressing experiences due to theirrace. The literary researchers began to coin to investigate ‘race-based trauma’ tofathom out how the race affects the social, emotional, and psychological well-beingof racial groups. These researchers were pointing out race as a leading factorfor experiencing trauma among racial and ethnic groups. Black Americans, as racialminorities, are exposed to race-related problems; therefore, they are likely tosuffer from race-based trauma. Alice Walker’s The Third Life of Grange Copelandis an embodiment of how race brings about emotional stress, fear, and trauma inthe Black society. Walker, through the portrayal of the Copeland family, depictscircles of repression, degradation, and poverty. In the story, Grange and his family,as the microcosm of the black society, are depicted as powerless, oppressed,and traumatized. Walker exposes that the life of the Copeland family is devoidof any rights and values, as they do not belong to the white hegemonic society.Nonetheless, Walker reveals the healing process and metamorphosis journey ofthe characters. This article aims to explore the role of race in relation to trauma inAlice Walker’s The Third Life of Grange Copeland. Moreover, the article unearthsthe characters’ healing process from the trauma.

___

  • Amanda M., and Evans, C. H. (2016). Responding to Race Related Trauma: Counseling and Research Recommendations to Promote Post-Traumatic Growth when Counseling African American Males. The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 1-26. Bloom, H. (2008). Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: Alice Walker-- New Edition. New York: Infobasc Publishing. Byerman, K. E. (1985). Fingering the Jagged Grain: Tradition and Form in Recent Black Fiction. Athens : University of Georgia Press. Caruth, C. (2016). Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. Chylińska, B. (2009). Ideology and Rhetoric: Constructing America. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Erlanger A. Turner, J. R. (2016). Racial Trauma is Real: The Impact of Police Shootings on African Americans. BlackDoctor.org, 1-2. Hardy, K. V. (2013). Healing the Hidden Wounds of Racial Trauma. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 24-28. Hasanthi, D. R. (2018). The Ideal Blak Man In Alice Walker’s The Third Life of Grange Copeland. Research Journal of English Language and Literature, 103-111. Helen A. and Neville, B. M. (2008). Handbook of African American Psychology. California: SAGE Publications. Hogue, W. L. (1986). Discourse and the Other: The Production of the Afro- American Text. Durham: Duke University Press. Howard, W. and Smith, J. (2010). The Impact of Racial Trauma on African Kimberly A. and Truong, S. D. (2012). Responding to Racism and Racial Trauma in Doctoral Study:An Inventory for Coping and Mediating Relationships. Harvard Educational Review, 226-254. Miller, R. B. (1981). Black American Literature and Humanism. Kentucky : University Press of Kentucky. Paul Wake, S. M. (2013). The Routledge Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory. New York: Routledge. Sharma, S. (2018). Locating Self In Alice Walker’s The Third Life Of Grange. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 54-57. Sistani, S. R. (2016). Nobody’s as Powerful as We Make Them Out to Be: A Psychopolitical Reading of The Third Life of Grange Copeland. English Language and Literature Studies, 36-42. Smoak, M. S. (2014). The Melancholic Subject: Exploring Loss and Relationships in African American and Asian. MA Thesis, 1-69. Theodore, M. J. (1989). Alice Walker’s The Third Life of Grange Copeland: The Dynamics of Enclosure . Callaloo, 279-309. Walker, A. (1970). The Third Life of Grange Copeland. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.