“Sweetness” is an excerpt from Toni Morrison’s novel God Help the Child, which was published as a standalone short story in the New Yorker magazine in 2015. The story is set in the 1950s and explores themes of colorism, racism, and identity. It revolves around the character of Sweetness, an African American woman who is ashamed of her daughter Lula Ann’s dark skin.

This guide refers to “Sweetness” published online by the New Yorker magazine on 2 February 2015.

Content warning: This guide discusses racism, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. It reproduces racist language by quotation only.

The story is narrated from the perspective of Sweetness. It begins with her saying, “It’s not my fault. So you can’t blame me. I didn’t do it and have no idea how it happened” (Paragraph 1). She reveals that her daughter, Lula Ann, has been born with skin so dark that it scares her. Since both her and her husband are light skinned, her daughter’s “[m]idnight black, Sudanese black” skin color leaves Sweetness feeling disappointed and ashamed (Paragraph 1).

Sweetness reflects on her family history and reveals that her mother and grandmother could pass for white. She discusses the discrimination that exists in society based on race. Sweetness’s grandmother, like many African Americans who could pass for white, hid her Blackness from everyone, even her own children. Sweetness’s grandmother even cut off her children, including Sweetness’s mother, because they decided to embrace their Blackness: “Any letter she got from my mother or my aunts she sent right back, unopened” (Paragraph 1).

Sweetness’s mother paid the price of not choosing to pass as white. Not only was she rejected by her own mother, but she faced much discrimination in her day-to-day life, even having to swear on a different Bible reserved for Negroes when she got married to her husband. This makes Sweetness want to “hold on to a little dignity” (Paragraph 2), and she does not know how else to do so other than glorify light skin.

Sweetness feels so embarrassed by Lula Ann’s skin that she even thinks about killing her. Just after she is born, Sweetness goes “crazy for a minute because once—just for a few seconds—[she holds] a blanket over her face and presse[s]” (Paragraph 3). Though she is unable to follow through with this, she still cannot love her daughter and thinks about giving her away to an orphanage. Even nursing her child feels like a burden, and Sweetness switches to bottle-feeding as soon as she gets home.

Sweetness’s husband, Louis, has a similar reaction to seeing their daughter’s skin color, resulting in countless fights between the two of them. Though they were happily married for three years before, Louis cannot get over Lula Ann’s skin color. Louis never touches Lula Ann as he believes that she is the result of Sweetness’s infidelity. During one of their arguments, Sweetness blames Lula Ann’s dark skin color on his family which results in Louis leaving Sweetness and Lula Ann completely.

After Louis leaves, Sweetness is forced to find a cheaper place for herself and Lula Ann. Although there are laws against refusing to rent to someone based on racist discrimination, many landlords make up reasons to keep people out, which makes finding a place even harder for Sweetness. Even when she finds someone to rent from, she has to pay more than the advertised price.

Sweetness faces more difficulties while raising Lula Ann. They receive welfare for a while and people look down on them. After Sweetness finds a job and Louis starts sending them some money every month, they are able to manage, and things get better. However, Sweetness still has to be careful regarding how she raises Lula Ann. She is very strict, and she makes sure that Lula Ann behaves accordingly and keeps her head down.

Sweetness is adamant that she is tough on Lula Ann to protect her—she sees a girl less dark than Lula Ann being assaulted by a group of white boys. Sweetness teaches Lula Ann to avoid white people and see herself as a target because of her dark skin color, but she does not see herself as a bad mother for hurting her daughter. She thinks that Lula Ann understands that she does love her.

Once Lula Ann is an adult, she leaves her mother and moves to California, “as far away from [Sweetness] as she could” (Paragraph 11). She embraces her skin color, becomes “confident,” and ends up with a “big-time job.” Sweetness never hears from her, but Lula Ann occasionally sends money to keep Sweetness in a small, cheap nursing home, which Sweetness says that she prefers to an expensive one. Although Sweetness is only 63, she has a bone disease that requires care.

Lula Ann sends Sweetness an excited letter saying that she is pregnant. Sweetness wonders if the baby’s father is as dark as Lula Ann but reflects that things have changed now—people with very dark skin tones are now fashion models and famous actresses. Sweetness realizes that the letter has no return address and that Lula Ann hates her, but she is grateful for the money that Lula Ann sends.

Sweetness grapples with a mixture of regret and denial about the way she treated Lula Ann, revealing that she became tougher on her through her adolescence. She congratulates herself for raising a girl who nevertheless ended up being rich and having a career. She observes that Lula Ann is about to find out how hard mothering really is.