SISTERHOOD, SURVIVAL, AND STRENGTH: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TERRY MCMILLAN'S WAITING TO EXHALE AND GLORIA NAYLOR'S THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE

This research paper undertakes a comparative study of Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale (1992) and Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place (1982) in order to examine African American women’s collective experiences of survival, resilience, and empowerment. Focusing on McMillan’s four protagonists—Savannah Jackson, Robin Stokes, Bernardi Harris, and Gloria Matthews—and Naylor’s seven women—Mattie Michael, Etta Mae Johnson, Kiswana Browne, Cora Lee, Lorraine, Theresa, and Lucielia Turner—the study explores how women negotiate emotional deprivation, economic instability, motherhood, sexual marginalization, and systemic oppression. Drawing upon feminist theory, Black feminist thought, sociological and psychological perspectives, the paper argues that sisterhood and communal bonds function as essential survival strategies across class and generational differences. Through close textual analysis and comparative evaluation, the paper demonstrates that both novels foreground collective female strength as a means of resisting patriarchal, racial, and economic marginalization, thereby situating them within a broader tradition of African American women’s literature.