Stephanie Kiley

English 101

Phillips

1 February 2016

Close Reading Analysis: "Sweetness" by Toni Morrison

Customarily, the birth of a baby would be a reason to be overjoyed and celebrate, imagining the endless possibilities for one's child. However, that was not the case in the short story, "Sweetness", written by Toni Morrison. When her baby was born dark-skinned, the narrator immediately felt ashamed of it's existence, because of the prejudiced views during the time period. Her fear of society's views of herself and her daughter influenced the way she treated her child, often acting cruel in order to prepare her for the real world. In the short story "Sweetness", Toni Morrison examines the harsh, negative effects that racism has on a relationship between a mother and daughter through a strong use of narrator, imagery, and tense.

To begin with, Morrison makes the narrator of the story, the mother, a very apparent role. The entire story is told from the mother's perspective, which includes her uncensored thoughts of how having a black child made her feel. She remembers, "I hate to say it, but from the very beginning in the maternity ward the baby, Lulu Ann, embarrassed me." The author utilizes the speaker's thoughts to show the influence discrimination had at the time that even a mother prioritized society's views over her very own baby. The use of speaker also allowed for the mother to justify the way she treated her daughter growing up through her thought process. She says, "Oh, yeah, I feel bad sometimes about how I treated Lulu Ann when she was little. But you have to understand: I had to protect her. She didn't know the world." Here, the speaker shows us that she knew that her actions were wrong, yet committed them anyway because she felt she had to prepare her daughter for the unfairness in the world. However, by doing this, she was actually creating separation between her and her daughter, similar to the separation between blacks and whites at the time. The narration also affects what we know because the mother was able to suppress or edit information that actually happened in order to make herself look better in the reader's eyes. For example, she recalls, "I remember when she had her first period and how I reacted. Or the times I shouted when she stumbled ...  No. I have to push those memories away -- fast." Although the mother is acknowledging some of the mistakes she made, she stops herself and represses the memories, making her an unreliable source that maybe she is withholding details of the story. Even still, the quotation shows us that she regrets the choices she did make because of racism present at the time. However, even though she might admit she regrets her actions, she doesn't take much ownership. She constantly repeats throughout the story "it's not my fault", when the baby is born, and throughout it whenever she makes a mistake. Morrison examines how the mom puts a lot of the blame on other people, such as society, because of the way it impacted her and in turn, how she impacted her daughter.  

 In addition, the author uses powerful imagery to exaggerate the separation being placed on the mother and daughter due to racism. The mother's account of seeing her baby for the first time really emphasizes the capability of what she would do to avoid the public's negative view. She expresses, "just for a few seconds -- I held a blanket over her face and pressed." The visual is shocking and exemplifies how terrified the mother was of the baby. Not only was she scared of how it would be treated but also how she would be neglected and looked at by the world. The narrator recollects, "I didn't take her outside much ...  because, when I pushed her in the baby carriage, people would lean down and peek in to say something nice and then give a start or jump back before frowning." People at the time rejected those of another race and because of the treatment she was receiving, the narrator rejected her own daughter, treating her unjustly because she blamed her for the way people looked at them. Frequently, she taught Lulu Ann lessons in order to prepare her for society, since she was dark-skinned and hadn't been blessed with lighter skin like her. She remembers a black skin girl not as dark as her daughter, "tripped by one of a group of white boys" and reiterates how, "if I hadn't trained Lulu Ann properly she wouldn't have known to ...  avoid white boys." This use of imagery shows how apparent discrimination was that the speaker felt just in her actions to prepare her daughter. Due to the time period, the mother's first instinct was to ready her child for how society would treat black people, being very strict and hard on her daughter, damaging any chance of a relationship between the two. In reality, the mother was selfish, fearful of what others would think of a light-skinned woman, with a black child. She says, "I told her to call me 'Sweetness' instead of 'Mother' ... her being that black and having what I think are too thick lips and calling me 'Mama' would've confused people." Humiliated by her daughter's outer appearance it is obvious that the narrator prefers society's approval over her daughter's happiness. Racism has created animosity between both mother and daughter because acceptance will never occur in a world that doesn't welcome blacks. 

Moreover, the short story's tense, being told from the past changes the way the text feels by implementing a regretful and ashamed mood. Since the speaker is now in a nursing home, she is remembering the events leading up to the current day. Her view on how she acted, has changed, now that the repercussions of her actions are catching up to her. She relinquishes that her daughter, "Taught me a lesson I should have known all along. What you do to children matters. And they might never forget. As soon as she could, she left me all alone in that awful apartment." This quotation shows that now that the mother is alone with no company, she recognizes the faults that she made and that society's views of her at the time weren't more important than her daughters view of her. Also, now that everything is in the past, you really see the lasting affects that the mom did have on her daughter. She states, "There is no return address on the envelope. So I guess I'm still the bad parent being punished forever till the day I die ... our relationship is down to her sending me money." Here, the mother sees the errors of her past, but the significance of the past tense is that it is too late to change anything. The mother does not even have a return address to keep a relationship with her daughter because her daughter does not want one. The past tense represents that the damage has been done and there is no reconciliation left for them. Not only does the tense show the negative affects that last today, but also how society has developed over time. The mother says, "Things have changed a mite since when I was young. Blue-blacks are all over TV, in fashion magazines, commercials, even starring in movies." Here, the past tense affects the speaker for she treated her daughter wrongly for no reason, considering the acceptance society now holds for African Americans. The tense is important and crucial to display how severely racism affected the relationship between mother and daughter, which now could not be fixed.

 In "Sweetness", Toni Morrison examines the complications and oppression that African Americans faced, as well as their struggle of feeling lesser to the normal human being. In this short story, the mother struggled with raising a black baby when she was light-skinned. She feared the public's view of her and how they might treat her due to segregation at the time. This constant worry made her act in ways that she wasn't proud of because she was ashamed of her own baby. Her resentment towards her child created such a negative relationship between the two that it could never be repaired. Morrison uses many literary elements such as speaker, imagery, and tense that help establish the message that the awful effects of racism led to a broken relationship between a mother and her daughter. 
