It’s not my fault. So you can’t blame me. I didn’t do it and have no idea how it happened.
"Sweetness" opens with the eponymous narrator striking a defensive tone. The "it" she refers to as not being her fault has yet to be defined, establishing an ambiguity that instills a sense of intrigue. The ambiguity also establishes a sense of intimacy, as the narrator addresses the reader as though they are familiar with the issue for which Sweetness denies being responsible. Ultimately, the urgency of Sweetness's denial suggests that she does in fact blame herself.
I told her to call me “Sweetness” instead of “Mother” or “Mama.” It was safer. Her being that black and having what I think are too thick lips and calling me “Mama” would’ve confused people.
In this passage, Sweetness reveals the origin of her peculiar nickname, from which the story takes its title. To distance herself from her daughter, Sweetness insists that Lula Ann call her "Sweetness," a name that suggests intimacy and tenderness but is nonetheless a way for Sweetness to deny that she is truly Lula Ann's mother. Sweetness justifies assuming a name other than mama or mother as being "safer," by which she means it would be safer for her to not be associated as the mother of a girl with such dark skin. This passage is significant because it reveals how Sweetness's colorism clouds her judgment and leads her to alienate her own daughter simply for having been born with black skin.
Some of you probably think it’s a bad thing to group ourselves according to skin color—the lighter the better—in social clubs, neighborhoods, churches, sororities, even colored schools. But how else can we hold on to a little dignity?
This passage, taken from early in the story, shows Sweetness directly acknowledging the illogic of her, as a black woman, being prejudiced against people with darker skin. Continuing with her defensive tone, Sweetness addresses the reader to say that she knows it may seem bad for people within the black community to perpetuate social hierarchies that privilege lighter skin. Sweetness justifies the colorism passed down through her family and through culture by alluding to degrading segregation laws of the Jim Crow era. In this way, Sweetness complicates the superficial judgment that it is "a bad thing to group ourselves according to skin color" by suggesting that her family only began to take advantage of the privileges of their light skin in order to avoid being harassed and abused by white people.
I know I went crazy for a minute, because—just for a few seconds—I held a blanket over her face and pressed. But I couldn’t do that, no matter how much I wished she hadn’t been born with that terrible color. I even thought of giving her away to an orphanage someplace. But I was scared to be one of those mothers who leave their babies on church steps.
In a moment of extreme honesty, Sweetness admits that she seriously considered suffocating Lula Ann soon after she was born, but removed the blanket from the baby's face because she could not go through with it. Sweetness similarly could not go through with a fantasy of abandoning Lula Ann on the steps of a church. The confessions in this passage are significant because they emphasize the intensity of Sweetness's negative reaction to her daughter's dark skin, revealing how deeply the biases of colorism compromise Sweetness's morality.
Last two times I saw her she was, well, striking. Kind of bold and confident. Each time she came to see me, I forgot just how black she really was because she was using it to her advantage in beautiful white clothes.
Bringing the story to the present day from which she narrates, Sweetness comments in this passage on how her daughter turns out to be beautiful and striking despite Sweetness's fears about how her blackness would be a burden. Sweetness admits she forgets about Lula Ann's blue-black skin because of the way Lula Ann wears white clothes that emphasizes the beauty of her color through contrast. The passage is significant because it speaks to how Lula Ann embraces her black identity despite her mother's lessons to conceal and be ashamed of her skin.
Listen to me. You are about to find out what it takes, how the world is, how it works, and how it changes when you are a parent. Good luck, and God help the child.
The story closes with Sweetness directly addressing her daughter, warning Lula Ann about the difficulties of motherhood. The tone of the passage is ambiguous, incorporating both an honest forewarning that acknowledges Sweetness's own remorse and a condescending, ominous quality that seems to suggest Sweetness wants Lula Ann to endure the same conflicts Sweetness lived through. With this implicit cruelty, it is clear that Sweetness is hurt that Lula Ann has chosen to keep Sweetness at the same distance Sweetness always kept Lula Ann.
