特瑞·麦克米兰小说《等待梦醒时分》的 文学伦理学研究范文

On Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale from the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism
英文摘要 Abstract in English
中文摘要 Abstract in Chinese


目录  Table of Contents
英文摘要 Abstract in English
中文摘要 Abstract in Chinese
简介 Introduction
1. 特丽•麦克米兰及《等待梦醒时分》简介 An Introduction toTerry McMillan and Waiting to Exhale
2. 特丽•麦克米兰作品的文献综述 Literature Review 
3. 文学伦理学批评及关键概念界定 Ethical Literary Criticism and Key Concepts
2.1 Love Ethic 
2.2 Family Ethic
2.3Social Interpersonal Ethic
第一章《等待梦醒时分》中的爱情伦理 Chapter One Love Ethic in Waiting to Exhale
1.1 无爱的性 Sex without Love
1.2 三角关系 Love Triangle
1.3 性与爱的结合 Unity of Sex and Love
第二章《等待梦醒时分》中的家庭伦理 Chapter Two Family Ethic in Waiting to Exhale
2.1 不和谐的夫妻关系 Disharmony in Conjugal Relationship
2.2 和谐的代际关系 Harmony in Parent-children Relationship
第三章《等待梦醒时分》中的社会人际伦理 Chapter Three Social Interpersonal Ethic in Waiting to Exhale
3.1 强有力的姐妹情谊 Powerful Sisterhood
3.2 团结的女性社团 United Women Community
3.3 互信互助的工作关系 Trustful and Supportive Work Relationship
结论 Conclusion

3.2.1 Love ethnics 
The black Women take initiative in the love. In definition, Love is a multi-faceted and variegated concept which often seems ‘as elusive as it is crucial to the lives of almost all of us’ (Sternberg & Grajek, 1984, p. 312). A history of study in social psychology reflects this diversity and has increasingly come to appreciate Barthes’ (1990) claim that any pretensions to a singular theory of love should be replaced with a concern about its affirmation and what people actually say and do in love’s name. This has led to a focus on the personal definition and subjective experience of love. Lee (1977) was the first to exemplify this approach, studying love as a problem of competing ideologies about the optimum arrangement of intimate adult partnering. Citing six central ideologies or styles, which variously promoted love as passionate/erotic, as game playing and uncommitted, as friendship, as practical and calculating, as altruistic, and as a potential obsession, Lee (1988) suggested that people would simply ‘buy into’ one or more of these cultural ideologies at different times and in different contexts and relationships. Sternberg’s (1995, 1996, 1998) theory of ‘love as a story’ extends this emphasis on personal definition still further. The theory proposes that each person’s experiences of love coalesce to form their own love story. In western, individualistic cultures, for example, love has traditionally been dominated by feminine images and understood in terms of gender difference, a situation attributed primarily to the rise of capitalism and the concomitant separation of home and workplace (Burns, 2002; Cancian, 1987). Men place more emphasis on the physical attractiveness of a partner and have tended to understand love in passionate terms, as a powerful and short-term feeling driven primarily by the pursuit of sex, fun, and excitement (Buss & Barnes, 1985; Greitemeyer, 2005; Hatfield, 1988). However, in the history of the black, this situation is totally different. Women are more willing to get love , so that they are more active more men in the engagement.

Love ethics in the western culture could cover a wide range, including love of God, love of neighbors, love of others, etc (CUSVELLER, 2014). In this paper, it specifically focus on the respective of love ethics between a man and woman, namely "sexual ethics" is the relationship between sex, sexuality, and sexual attitudes among other things. These relationships include the relationship between sex and love, sex and marriage, sex and birth, sex and relationships, sex and work, and many other things, as well as sexual relations between men and women in gender relations. Sexual ethics is the attitude and grasp the standard in dealing with people, held the balance of these relations. Sexual ethics or sex ethics, also called sexual morality are ethics that concern issues from all aspects of human sexuality, including human sexual behavior. Broadly speaking, sexual ethics relate to community and personal standards regarding the conduct of interpersonal relationships. This includes issues of consent, sexual relations before marriage or while married, such as marital fidelity, premarital sex and non-marital sex), questions about how gender and power are expressed through sexual behavior, how individuals relate to society, and how individual behavior impacts public health concerns. Ethical dilemmas which involve sex can often appear in situations where there is a significant power difference or where there is a pre-existing professional relationship between the participants, when there is an age difference, or where consent is partial or uncertain. Sexual ethics can also include the ethics of procreation. 

Many practical questions arise regarding human sexuality, such as whether sexual norms should be enforced by law, given social approval, or changed. Answers to these questions can be considered on a scale from social liberalism to social conservatism. Considerable controversy continues over which system of ethics or morality best promotes human happiness, and which, if any, is inherently right. Furthermore, females are usually the disadvantaged group, no matter in daily life or professional area. For example, in sports area, in 2014, recent policy introduced by the International Olympic Committee to regulate hyperandrogenism in female athletes could lead to unnecessary treatment and may be unethical, argue. Another more common existing and more widely influential example would be that in recent years, the premature sexualizaton of young people has become a source of intense public anxiety, argued by a number of high-profile commentators to represent an unprecedented crisis facing the next generation. A body of academic, government and popular literature cites a host of pressures stemming from the sex-saturated contemporary context, particularly in relation to the media and consumerism, that are negatively impacting both the present and future of young subjects, particularly girls. Meanwhile, a critical commentary on the crisis narrative of sexualization notes the rhetorical dimensions of the literature, the classed and gendered ideal of childhood innocence, protection and the historical precedent of public anxiety concerning the morally corrupting influence of modern times. As such, scholars have argued that sexualization says more about the anxieties of adults rather than the lived experiences of young people. Empirical research on sexuality with school can be viewed as a counterpart to this critical commentary, illuminating the complex realities of growing up in a sex-saturated society. 

The association between “unrealism” and “African American women’s romantic fantasy” may frequently emerge because African Americans are firmly tethered to the real. In the engagement of the love, the love is seem to be real under the situation of the famine, they are equal in the love. Even as many fantasies contain imaginative reworking of black bodies for comedy, horror, and nationalist fantasies, fantasies in which black people are protagonists are always vulnerable to claims of racism—not only because of what may be present in the narrative, but also because of what is erased. In other words, the history of black representation is so overrun with negative stereotypes it can be difficult to produce a narrative that does not gesture to some racist history—particularly when fit into the conventional generic narratives that dominate the mass media. Sidney Poitier and the Cosby family can serve racist representations because they represent ideals that do not reference the larger plight of African Americans. Representations of African American gang members and drug dealers, no matter how thoughtful, rarely completely escape accusations of racist characterization because that is the predominant stereotype in U.S. culture. These representations require nuance in genres that are defined by archetype and excess. I am not arguing that we cannot critique racist representations, only suggesting the pitfalls inherent in doing black versions of generic narratives..

3.2.2 Family ethics
 All hope is coming from the children. But with the children grow up , they are alone again."Family ethics" refers to the relationship and structure in the home environment and in the background, among the members of the formation. This includes between parents and children, can be refined into several levels a father and son, mother and son, father and daughter, mother and daughter; brothers and sisters, can be refined as between brothers or sisters; the level between grandparents and grandchildren. For each individual, the function of family differs from the function of society, precisely because the significance of family and society of an individual is completely different. Society is to obtain personal information of subsistence and development, and the family is the emphasis on meeting the emotional needs of an individual. This is the home for the individual is very important. 

Globalization in the world has arisen from economic, cultural and social interaction between humanity together with improving technology. This formation has brought a new perspective to the concept "adult" while leading to a new definition as a physically, psychologically and socially competent, independent, matured person who can act accordingly beyond compulsory education (Ozvaris, 2011). This new concept of adulthood emerging from different education needs of humanity by revealing the phenomenon of lifelong learning has guided adult education and resulted in the new definitions linked to it. According to Lowe (1985), adult education as being internationally accepted, prepared in accordance with adults’ needs and as can be named as “public education” in the literature is reclassified as "complementary education, education for vocational and technical qualification, civil education, education for political and social competency, self-fulfillment education, education for better health, welfare and family life” (Kilic, 2012). Accordingly, as the adult takes the role of “parent” besides the roles of “student, worker, citizen, social individual”, the family education should be examined within the scope of adult education. In the process of the children’s education, they are willing to educate well as they hope. They are willing to spend more time with the children. 
"Ethics" is merely covering abstract expressions, however according to Haynes (2002), it clearly presents the "kindness, honesty, justice, virtue, crime and bullying encountered in certain acts and practices in rational concepts while it also indicates the general goodness and badness under the rules of social consensus without further wording. In family education programs considered within adult education, in parent education, it is important on how the “ethics” concept is linked with constructivist concepts like good, honest, accurate, fair, and virtuous while respecting the essence of the families. The “ethics” concept in the given training appears to be a basic component that must exist in the process. Certain rule of professional organizations formed in the light of ethical principles intends to ensure the welfare and regularity between the members both in and out of the organization. It is inevitable for education, as being a professional organization, to create specific objectives in achieving its goals. In family educational services, the ethical principles are exposed in program development, staff behavior, family rights protection, family education and education of families of children with special needs. Since, at first phase, it is an “ethical” problem to determine the needs according to “what and whom” in a program to be developed for family education, it is expected to be in line with the needs of the adult as the education itself is serving adults. At the second phase, during objective setting, it is necessary to define clear, understandable, flexible, achievable objectives questioning “how a family we desire?” (Demirel, 2007). During the curriculum development as the third phase of the program, the needs and the interests of the participants should be zoomed; meanwhile, the content of the education should be designed to help solve the problems faced by adults and to enhance the physical and emotional participation of the adults (AEP, 2012). In teaching-learning process consisting of learning activities, the picked activities should be submitted with the appropriate methods of adult nature. In the evaluation, as the last phase of the program development, the underlie criteria should be fair ones considering the characteristics of adult learners. The most important duty in the realization of family education within the framework of ethics falls into the teacher. A family educating teacher should be sensitive, helpful, respectful, honest, patient, supportive, guiding, encouraging, protective, fair and consistent (Alden et.al., 2009).

Recent research, based on public use samples from historical censuses, has improved greatly our understanding of racial differences in family patterns and their change over time. For example, Morgan et al. (1993) used the 1910 public use sample to show that African Americans and whites exhibited differences in family structure even at the turn of the century. Black children were less likely to live with their mothers, and black mothers were more likely to have children living away from them. Moreover, these racial differences were pervasive -- existing in rural and urban areas, in the North and South. Ruggles (1994) took a longer view by examining racial differences in family structure from 1880 through 1980. Agreeing with Morgan et al. that black-white differences had a long history, he also showed that they have intensified substantially throughout the twentieth century. Ruggles and Morgan et al. attribute historical racial differences in family structure to a combination of economic and cultural factors, but they offer few insights into the explanations for the changing family patterns among blacks over time.

The changes that have occurred in the African American family during this century are well documented (e.g., Cherlin 1992; Espenshade 1985; Farley & Hermalin 1971; Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan 1995). It is now common to refer to a "retreat" from marriage by black women (e.g., Lichter et al. 1992; Schoen 1987; Waite 1995), and the evidence supports such a description. According to Waite (1995) the percentage of black women 15 years old and older who had never married rose from roughly 21% in 1950 to 37% in 1990. During the same period the percentage not currently married climbed from less than 40% to nearly 60%.(n2) This retreat from marriage has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in nonmarital motherhood. For example, the percentage of all African American babies who were born to unmarried women climbed from about 25% in 1960 to 65% in 1990 (Smith et al. 1996). As a result of these two trends, the living arrangements of black children have also changed substantially. Ruggles (1994) estimates that the percentage of African American children living with two parents fell from 72.5% in 1910 to only 47.1% in 1980. This was a period of significant mortality decline for blacks, thereby reducing the probability of parental death. As the consequence, the children grow up to the adult, they are alone again, so that they are afraid of growing. 

Many potential explanations have been offered for these trends in family patterns -- most stressing structural and economic changes affecting the black underclass in northern cities. Some have emphasized the shrinking employment opportunities for black males in inner cities, as many businesses requiring a less-skilled work force have abandoned inner cities in favor of suburbs or nonmetropolitan areas (see Kasarda 1989, 1995; Testa et al. 1989; Testa & Krogh 1995). Others (e.g., Wilson 1987) have pointed out that the supply of potentially marriageable black men has been reduced by high rates of mortality and incarceration in the urban North. As a result of these social forces, the shrinking supply of "marriageable" black males has reduced the incentives and opportunities for black women to marry (see Kiecolt & Fossett 1995; Lichter et al. 1992; Schoen 1987, 1995; South & Lloyd 1992; Testa et al. 1989; Testa & Krogh 1995; Wilson 1987).(n3) Aside from the availability or attractiveness of potential male marriage partners, the perceived advantages of marriage for black females may have declined as a result of their increasing economic independence. The economic status of black women (relative to black men) has improved in recent decades (see Wilson 1987), and Farley (1988) has suggested that this trend may have contributed to the retreat from marriage by African American females.

3.2.3 Interpersonal ethics
Interpersonal is extremely reflection on the working relationship. "Interpersonal ethics" is about the relationship that people form in their daily life and contacts. Interpersonal ethics is the basic attitude and principles that an individual is dealing with these relationships. Interpersonal relationships includes the relationship that people form can in the work relations, with neighborhood and friends, and relationship between the individual and the respective communities, and between various groups within the community, such as gender-based form of organization, namely men's groups and women's groups and so on. The principles governing communication, the right and wrong aspects of it, the moral-immoral dimensions relevant to Interpersonal communication are called the ethics of Interpersonal communication.

In interpersonal communication, one person is speaking while the other person is listening. Maintaining the correct balance between the speaking and listening phases is one part of the ethics of Interpersonal communication. One of the most widely discussed ethical issues in communication is the legitimacy of fear and emotional appeal. It is difficult to determine how fear or emotions prevent certain choices. The degree of criticism and praise is another ethical matter that concerns Interpersonal communication. It is vital to maintain an appropriate magnitude of both elements during the communication. A dearth or an overdose of either of the factors could result in unfavorable consequences. Of course the principle of honesty on both sides should be completely applied because any amount of insincerity from either the listener or the speaker would not be prudent. In the working environment, they are working together, they have strong working relationship. Sometimes, the relationship is more than other relationships. 

In the class society, the various classes and stratum, different interest groups who are all involved in political activities and in which play different roles respectively, and then form different political subjects. Meanwhile, the different political subjects will related to one and another, which accomplish a complex relationship web of politic. Therefore, it forms the theory of political ethic. 


  According to Collins, in the 1980's and 1990's, African American women developed a voice or a "self-defined collective black women's standpoint about black womanhood" (1996a). This newfound standpoint enables African American researchers and everyday women to share experiences that have been, and still are, ignored in most social science research. Dominant discourse fails to allow representation of African American women and their experiences, thereby limiting opportunities for visibility and exposure in "mainstream" arenas of discourse. In order to shatter this "intellectual" glass ceiling, African American women entered this public space through (nonfiction) books, books, and print media (Collins, 1996b). By empowering themselves, Black feminist thought or standpoint provides African American women with a sense of unity and sisterhood lacking in other conceptual frameworks.

Black feminist thought was constructed to provide consciousness for oppressed groups, specifically African American women (Collins, 1989a). It allows them to possess a self-defined standpoint symbolizing their uniquely different lived realities resulting from existence in an oppressive patriarchy. Because dominant discourse is male centered and feminist research does not typically encompass race concerns, Deborah King (1988) notes that African American women are experiencing a "both/or" orientation. Depending on the context, her experience may be centered around her identity as an African American, a woman, or an African American woman. This experience gives them the advantage of relating to both worlds because of their multiple consciousness, yet standing apart because of differences.

The sisterhood that is being woven amongst African women theologians and creative writers provides valuable insights into the need for more multidisciplinary work in African scholarship. As both sets of writers begin from the concrete life experiences of African women, they challenge the dominance of European traditions in most aspects of African studies. African women theologians and creative writers are not subservient to some overarching theory developed outside the continent. Although they have interacted with African American women intellectuals, they have remained faithful to their African context. With passion and compassion, they seek to highlight and to transform the sad situation that most African women find themselves in. These include vulnerability to rape and HIV/AIDS, widowhood rites, inheritance practices, female genital mutilation, violence in its various forms, and a plethora of other problems. African women creative writers and theologians have demonstrated a high degree of sensitivity to their contexts, enabling them to become agents of social transformation.1

Black women community, such as Black women’s theatre groups that emerged are, for example, The BiBi Crew (women comedians), The Women’s Troop (formed by the Black Mime Theatre and emphasising the explicitly black British experience in their work), Imani-Faith (founded by Jaqueline Rudet), Sistren (originating in Jamaica and, according to Lizbeth Goodman, in their practical social action comparable to Clean Break Theatre Company, Talawa (directed by Yvonne Brewster and drawing on West Indian and African traditions), and Theatre of Black Women. However, it was
well into the 1980s, the Theatre of Black Women was one of very few groups to provide opportunities for aspiring women playwrights’. Founded in 1982 by Bernadine Evaristo, Patricia Hilaire and Paulette Randall, the company’s declared aim was to encourage a ‘bonding between Black women

Work relationship of black women is hard to find the job in the society due to the reason of the social role and their family duties.

As their examples indicate, gender role expectations are pervasive in both dominant culture and African American culture. To determine the degree to which Waiting to Exhale contributes to this cinematic paradigm shift, participants were asked to describe (a) those gender role expectations present in the different characters and (b) how those portrayals (in)accurately addressed self-definition and empowerment issues facing professional African American women in the 1990's.

Participants see the character Bernadine as the self-denying mother, nurturer, caregiver, and superwoman. Carla describes her as a woman who "had a degree and gave up everything in support [of] her husband because we are taught this at a young age" (p. 9, lines 28-29) which illustrates the book's ability to capture true gender role socialization. Similarly, Sarah feels that the superwoman role Bernadine fulfilled was true to life. Sarah, who experienced divorce shortly after the book was released, feels she can relate to the character's tensions of trying to balance career, family, and pursuit of self-identity. Although the image of mammy was not blatant, stereotypic gender roles are present in the book. Joyce captured this realism by stating that while viewing the book, "you were actually able to visualize the woman who was there" (p. 10, 2). In other words, the characters are believable despite their character flaws and ascriptions to some gender role and stereotype expectations.

The gender roles of the sacrificing spiritual presence, superwoman, mother, caregiver, and career woman are displayed in Gloria who is willing to sacrifice a romantic relationship with a man as a means for preserving her mother/son relationship. In regards to her total commitment to this relationship, Sonya observes that, as women, "your children do come first, you know, and her own interests were not supposed to be at the forefront of anything. And she was supposed to be the little mama taking care of hair because that's the other thing we're supposed to do" (p. 10, lines 30-31). Joyce notes that this character has depth and range, yet attempts to find satisfaction by having a relationship with her son's father. Conversely, the same role that her ex-husband does not find attractive is what Joyce feels attracts Gregory Hines' character to her (superwoman). Trisha's observation that Gloria's being overweight contributes to the mammy image connotes the difficulty with such portrayals that lie between reality and socially constructed stereotypes.
Another character who perpetuates a stereotype unique to African American women was Robin Stokes, the promiscuous professional looking for love in all the wrong places. Trisha and Carla observe the Jezebel stereotype in Robin and Savannah, as they are portrayed as having multiple sex partners.
 was a little disappointed. To me, it was women jumping in bed all the time, and I don't think, I guess I don't know, if Forest Whitaker tried to portray that. You know, they got a man and just jumped in bed - I think sometimes that is how society thinks of Black women, as if we are prostituting ourselves. It is just a sexual thing, and I do believe that is how some guys see Black women. (Carla, p. 12, lines 31-35)
I think that was a bit extreme, because of the amount of sexual activity. Granted I am but 24, but even the women inthat age group, you know, don't really mature into womanhood. Even in that age group that are that active sexually, that was a little extreme (Trisha, p. 12, 43-46)
As their opinions illustrate, the characters are socialized and conditioned to be relationship focused, even at the risk of numerous brief sexual encounters not leading to long lasting relationships. The need for validation from men is very apparent, as three of the participants indicates, which may have been achieved through their sexual excursions. Although sexual identity is a natural part of the lives of some, such depictions of African American women may perpetuate the Jezebel stereotype. Trisha's statement reflects this dissonance by addressing the realism and stereotypes associated with sexual identity and African American women. She also says that, "for the characters who were professional women Robin and Savannah, it all went back to a focus of what happened in the bedroom."2
The last character, Savannah (Whitney Houston), is a professional woman who was involved in an adulterous affair with an old, married boyfriend. At the urging of her mother who says "Savannah, you say you want these things, well, if you do, then you better do this and you better do it like this, or, you know, it's not going to be fulfilled," Savannah pursues the relationship. In the end she is dissatisfied with this "half relationship" and breaks it off, as she is resigned to her professional life without a romantic relationship. Although her sexuality may have perpetuated the stereotype of the Jezebel, Savannah is perceived as the only character to challenge those gender and race stereotypes.
A woman who has it all, but she's nothing until she has a man. I mean, she had a career, still taking care of mother from afar off and it hurt her when her mom needed something and didn't contact her, but in spite of all of that and her having everything and being supposedly 'together,' you know, she's high-powered in her career, very articulate, gorgeous Black woman, she had to have that man. And, although she knew that he was married and, you know, willing to mess around, she was willing to love him in order to be loved. 

In the end, Sonya says that Savannah's attitude about the desire to be loved is "To hell with him and let me get my own thing going on over here." The character development near the end of the film does not capture this sentiment entirely, but the participants do observe this evolution with Savannah in the long run. It is also noted that Gloria, the only character with a relationship at the movie's end, appears to display great strength that is not fully developed on screen. Her willingness to let her  son travel around the world gives her the freedom she needs to pursue her romantic relationship. It must also be noted that the relationship development for Gloria is more pronounced than the others, which may be due to the role of sex in adult relationships. For those characters involved in casual or non-committal sex, the relationship is less likely to develop into a commitment between them and their partner.

When asked if the characters' experiences were representative of their own, participants agree that they are provided examples of this cinematic realism. The single and dating participants share that there are great frustrations with being a 1990's woman juggling career, family, and marriage expectations with personal goals. One divorcee says that her desire to pursue tenure challenged her gender role as a wife, which ultimately led to the mutual decision to divorce. While her career was not the impetus, Sarah is sure to make it clear that her exhusband's traditional gender role expectations were what ultimately caused their relationship to dissolve.
 
1. Maurice Taonezvi Vambe, ‘Orality in the Black Zimbabwean Novel in English’, Journal of Southern African Studies 30/2 (2004), 235-249.
2. Chitando, A, & Chitando, E 2005, 'Weaving Sisterhood: Women African Theologians And Creative Writers',Exchange, 34, 1, pp. 22-38