Summary Of Terry Mcmillan's Waiting To Exhale

Terry McMillan’s book “Waiting To Exhale” was a groundbreaking phenomenon due to the influence it would have afterward its publication in outlets such as books and T.V. This story is centralized around four middle class, college educated black women. The four women of this book are essentially trying to find the right man and longing for true love. Though through much of the story it seems as if love is impossible to find, but these best friends come together and help each other in ways that best friends do: emotionally and professionally. Through the stories of these women, McMillan explores the social and cultural contexts of the lives of African Americans during the 1990’s. In the background of this book, McMillan puts certain emphasis on …show more content…
McMillan uses the love lives of these four women to address problems of race, ethnicity and though Savannah and Bernadine this paper will analyze the role these problems have in romantic relationships. Undoubtedly McMillian explores the role race, gender and age play in a romantic relationship and though the character Bernadine we can see were and why these issues are hampering effecting her success both negatively and later positively in the book. In the book Bernadine is married to a man named John and after 11 years of marriage he leaves her for a white women. While it was clear that Bernadine and John no longer shared the same spark they once had, this absolutely crushes Bernadine and …show more content…
In this chapter Savannah and Robin are having a conversation about white women and why black men are running of to these women. Robin is more vigorous in that she simply hates back men that run of to white women, but Savannah gives the reader more insight to the issue considering race in relationships. In this chapter Savannah states, “ I hate the fact that they think white girls epitomize beauty and femininity”(176). A lot of the hatred connected with black men being in relationships with white women could be that black women feel inferior or even threatened by the mainstream concept of beauty and feminine that is usually associated “White women”. Savannah is saying that white women do in fact epitomize beauty, but her concern lies on the fact that other men may actually believe in that absurd notion and that’s what mostly gets on savannahs nerves. Most of this is also happening in a time where there is not even a holyday for Martin Luther King, in Phoenix the city they live in. Martin Luther King not being a national holiday in this time debate asserts the fact that black equality is not where near where it needs to be and asserts that there is barriers already present in the lives of African Americans. Consequently, there will also be barriers in the relationships of black women due to the belief that white epitomizes