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A Study Of Terry Mcmillan’s Waiting To Exhale From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

Posted on:2016-07-22Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:X D WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2285330464957715Subject:English Language and Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Terry Mc Millan is a representative of the contemporary African American women writers. Her novel, Waiting to Exhale, has been on the best-selling list of The New York Times for months. The novel revolves around love, family and social interpersonal relationship of four contemporary African American middle-class women.The core concept of this thesis is “ethic”, which refers to the naturally established relationship and order either between people and things or inside things. This thesis mainly focuses on the relationship between people. Synchronically, according to the different situations and aspects of life and activities that are related to the relationship between people, ethic can be classified as “love ethic”, “family ethic”, “interpersonal ethic”, etc. Taking ethical literary criticism as the theoretical perspective, the author analyzes love ethic, family ethic and social interpersonal ethic presented in Mc Millan’s Waiting to Exhale. The aim is to summarize the characteristics of the ethical values held by the contemporary African American middle-class women in the target novel and reveal the changes of the female role in social relations in this new era, which can implicate Mc Millan’s ethical values.Analyzing Mc Millan’s Waiting to Exhale from the three synchronically defined kinds of ethic, the author concludes the following corresponding characteristics: personal gratification takes the lead; blood relationship is women’s priority; women are united and supportive. The ethical relationships presented in this novel demonstrate the changes of African American middle-class women’s gender role in the new period. These women do not belong to the vulnerable group any more. Good education and financial independence endow the middle-class women with autonomy in their relationship with men. They pursue their self-value and social value in the family and society, just like men. This is consistent with Mc Millan’s personal experience and the ethical value emphasizing that women should be independent and autonomous promoted in the second Feminist Movement, when Mc Millan grew up. Mc Millan deems that women and men’s should be equal. Women should be independent, autonomous, united and supportive in ethical relationship. They should be the self-conscious subject, instead of the accessory in the patriarchal society. Seen from this perspective, as an African American woman writer, Terry Mc Millan has rid her novel of the obvious racial marks, endowing it with some universal meanings.
Keywords/Search Tags:Terry McMillan, ethical literary criticism, love ethic, family ethic, social interpersonal ethic
PDF Full Text Request
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