54 pages • 1 hour read
Terry McMillanWaiting to Exhale
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
John’s Belongings
When Bernadine learns that her husband wants a divorce, she is not surprised, but she is angry that he chose to leave her for a white woman who shares some similarities with the woman Bernadine was when she married John. Bernadine feels that John stole her identity and turned her into someone she doesn’t recognize, then left her when he got bored with her. This causes Bernadine to act out in many ways, and one of those ways is by burning his clothing and selling his belongings.
John’s belongings symbolize both Bernadine’s anger, but also her independence. She first burns his clothing and shoes, then sells all his other belongings for just $1, illustrating that her goal is to hurt him—not to profit. Bernadine cannot take out her anger on John himself, so she takes it out on his clothing by showing him that she understands material things are important to him, but they are not important to her. At the same time, Bernadine burns the luxury car John bought her. He didn’t buy the car for her because she wanted it, but because of the status he hoped to convey to their neighbors and friends. The car is another example of John’s need to be perceived in a certain way and a part of what Bernadine believes led to him deciding to divorce Bernadine to marry a young, white girl. In rejecting the material goods Bernadine associates with John, she rejects the identity he attempts to mold for her and takes steps toward establishing an identity that feels authentic.
Cigarettes, Shopping, and Food
Bernadine and Savannah both smoke, especially when they are anxious. Bernadine stops smoking over three months before John asks for a divorce and begins again the morning he leaves. Savannah, too, smokes when anxious, as seen when she confesses to having smoked a whole pack of cigarettes on the day she is to see Kenneth again for the first time in four years. Gloria, meanwhile, turns to food and television to soothe her unhappiness and loneliness as a single woman. Robin, too, has an activity she turns to when she wants to soothe her anxiety and loneliness: Robin likes to shop.
Cigarettes, shopping, and food become sources of comfort for these women, symbolizing the comfort, support, and understanding they want from men but fail to get. Each woman’s respective coping mechanism eases the sense of anxiety and loneliness that comes with being single, professional women in 1990. While each of these habits has the potential to cause harm—and both Savannah and Bernadine manage to break their addictions to at different parts in the novel— they all represent the toll that comes with looking for comfort outside of themselves. As the novel progresses, Savannah finds peace within herself when she accepts that she might never find the love and companionship she seeks and no longer needs an external source of comfort. The other three ladies make progress toward giving up their needs for external comfort as their situations evolve. Bernadine and Gloria find solace in new relationships. For Robin, her secondary source of comfort is the knowledge that she hasn’t had to give up her desire to have a child.
Bernadine’s Settlement
In the final chapter, Bernadine learns that she has received a settlement from her divorce that is more than three times the amount John offers her at the beginning of the novel. This settlement is substantial and will allow Bernadine to give up her job and to begin a business that is similar to the one she dreamed of having while she was married to John. However, this settlement is hard-won, and it is symbolic not only of John’s attempts to avoid sharing marital property with Bernadine and to punish her for not being what he wanted her to be, but also Bernadine’s determination to fight for herself and to reassert the identity and dreams she gave up in her marriage.
Bernadine spends a majority of the novel waiting for her lawyer to uncover the layers upon layers of lies and tricks John used to hide his assets from Bernadine. As time passes and Bernadine becomes anxious to be free from John, she finds herself fighting to not just punish John for trying to cheat her out of what she earned during their marriage, but to redefine herself as a woman who is worthy not only of what she is owed, but of the love and respect John failed to show her. In the end, when Bernadine learns of the resolution of the settlement, she not only receives a check that will change her life, but she also regains her identity and her sense of self-worth. It is because of this sense of redemption and closure that the settlement symbolizes Bernadine’s renewed sense of identity.
