Terry McMillans Women Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Terry McMillans Women Terry McMillan grabs her audiences attention by filling her books with romance, tension, and depend on ...its the roiling currents among family, friends and lovers that McMillan is most comfortable writing about (Skow 77). Her customary characters are strong African-American women who are well off many another(prenominal) have jobs, families, and security. Although these women manifestly have all these necessities, they long for more. As they experience life, they embark on an eternal search for connection (Donahue n. pag.). They create bonds with friends, siblings and children, that, above all, McMillan stresses their relationships with men. McMillans maincharacters need these close ties to another(prenominal) people to survive and be happy. Women depend on other women in each book. Friends and sisters help fill a void by giving and needing support, but these relationships fulfill only part of the connection they long for. In Waiting to Exhale the bonds between four women are solid. They support one another during rumbustious times with men, husbands, jobs and all the obstacles life has to offer. In Disappearing Acts Zora can always get advice and support from her three friends with dilemmas such as pregnancy, epilepsy, and obsesity. Stella receives coaching and reassurance from her sisters in How Stella Got her communication channel Back. Although close friends strengthen one against the troublesome events in life and provide a release for the protagonists thoughts, they have their drawbacks. Friends need attention and support of their own. In many instances all that they can offer is their judgment and criticism. Portia, one of Zoras close friends in Disappearing Acts, explains the need for independence from advice by sa... ...e between reliance on others to machinate one happy and ones own efforts for self-fulfillment. Works Cited Donahue, Deirdre. McMillan Slips into a Vivid, One-Note Groove. USA Today. http//www.usatoda y.com/life /enter/books/leb353.htm (28 April 1999). McMillan, Terry. Disappearing Acts. New York Pocket Books, 1989. _____. How Stella Got Her Groove Back. New York Signet, 1996. _____. MaDear. National endowment fund for the Arts. http//arts.endow.gov/explore.Writers/Terry.html (22 May 1999). _____. Waiting to Exhale. New York Viking, 1992. Porter, Evette. My Novel, My Self. Village Voice. May 21, 1996 Randolph, Laura B. Me As I Wanna Be (Or How To Get Your Groove Back). Ebony. May 1993, 20. Skow, John. Some Groove. Time. May 6, 1996, 77. Wilkerson, Isabel. On binding of the World. Essence. June 1996, 50.