Throughout Toni Morrison’s short story Sweetness, the narrator breaks the fourth wall and asks the reader questions throughout her narrative. In multiple instances, the narrator asks the reader questions to either validate, exaggerate, or emphasize her point of view regarding her disappointment with her daughter’s dark complexion, as well as her parenting style. One in particular is important, as the mother asks, “How else can we avoid being spit on in a drugstore, elbowed at the bus stop, having to walk in the gutter to let whites have the whole sidewalk, being charged a nickel at the grocer’s for a paper bag that’s free to white shoppers?”
The story Sweetness is about a mother who is disgusted by her daughter’s skin color, as she is much darker than the parents and the rest of the family. The father is very angry about his daughter’s complexion, and it causes enough strife between the couple for the husband to leave his wife and the daughter. Throughout the child’s life, the mother decides to unconventionally care for her child, and does not even let the daughter call her mother “Mom.” Additionally, the mother teaches the daughter how to stay hidden and out of sight, and was altogether very strict. While there are hints of regret throughout the story, the mother justifies her way of parenting due to her fear of the unjust society tormenting her family because of her daughter’s skin color.
The narrator believes that her abstract and un-motherly style of parenting will protect her daughter from possible extra racism and torture due to her darker skin color. By asking questions and conversing with the reader, the mother is almost persuading the reader to understand her treatment of her own daughter, even when she might regret it herself.
As I read through Sweetness, and especially the beginning, the narrator’s use of questions was obvious. Even more obvious was the hidden regret behind the mother, as well as her desire to justify her actions. The mother asks questions like “But how else can we hold on to a little dignity?” and “See how she turned out?…Can you beat it?”, which inherently asks the reader to agree with the narrator. If truly confident in how she raised her daughter, these questions would be unnecessary, but because of the mother’s true love of her daughter, she cannot fully justify her decisions.
Alex Buccino Post Group A