One formal element of the text “Sweetness” that is important to how the text presents content is in the final two paragraphs. The narrator’s dialogue on Lula ann is essential to understanding the true feelings she has for her.
Throughout the text, the narrator shows embarrassment and envy towards her child, Lula. Ever since she was born in a much darker tone than her, she has complained, blamed Lula for her bad marriage, and acted like she isn’t her daughter. She also taught her to live a life that is not her own, but claimed she was just doing it to protect her. The last two paragraphs exemplify the narrator’s envy towards her daughter.
The strategy that the narrator uses in this text contradicts what she said earlier in the story, claiming that she treated Lula Ann poorly to protect her, and helps to portray her as evil in the context of the story. In the very last sentence, she states, “God help that child.” I believe that this is a direct jab at her own daughter, as if to say her daughter does not understand anything about parenting. When she says, “Now she’s pregnant. Good move Lula Ann,” she uses sarcasm to get her point across, that some jealousy and hope for failure exists there, even for her own daughter. By doing this, the narrator allows the reader to see her true side. When the narrator talks about “how life changes when you’re a parent,” she says it in a snide way which implies that being her mother was a living hell for her. It eats at her that her own daughter won’t talk to her anymore, but with every line at the end of the story the narrator makes it clear that Lula’s decision was with good reason.
While one may have originally been confused as to whether or not the narrator wanted to help her daughter or not, this should put all those thoughts to rest. It is essential to the understanding of the meaning behind the story, because it makes the narrator look like the “bad guy” and Lula Ann the one who lived her true life, where she accepted and expressed who she was, unlike her mother. By reading the text more than five times, examining the tone the narrator uses throughout compared to the shift against Lula in the last few paragraphs, I can confidently conclude that blackness is what one makes it. If one embraces who they are, it’s great, but if one hides it and limits it and others, as “Sweetness” did, it is bound to hurt you in the long run.