‘Sweetness’ | Analysis

Indledning
“Do what your parents tell you. They know what is best for you” is a line that almost everybody has heard at some point growing up.

However is this always the case? That is the question the reader is left wondering after reading the short story “Sweetness”.

In the story author, Toni Morisson, places the reader in a dilemma depicting a bitter and distressed old woman, who says that she always did what was best for her daughter, but upon further examination of the text, it becomes apparent to the reader that the mother was both rough on the daughter, and shunned her to some degree.

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Uddrag
Although the mother says “I know the money she sends is a way to stay away and quiet down the little bit of conscience she’s got left.”

it could also be because she still has some form of bond or connection with her mother, since she was raised without a father figure, and therefore has relied heavily on her mothers help in various endeavors.

Early on in the story the narrator recalls an incident she had with her former husband. “That was when it got worse, so bad he just up and left” she says.

The fact that Lula Ann was abandoned by her father because of her skincolor, and the possible occurrence of unfaithfulness in the parents marriage, might have made a natural bond Between Lula Ann and her mother, because afterall she was the only one that took care of her.