Sweetness And Lula Ann Analysis

This mom is in straight distraught that her daughter came out black when she’s “light-skinned, with good hair, what we call high yellow…” This short story was set mostly back in the 90s when her daughter was born. Racism was a big thing for blacks. They weren’t able to go many places or do many things without getting yelled at.
“Sweetness” proposes the impression of how hard it was for an African American family in the nineties. Sweetness and Lula Ann struggle in their everyday life to make it through the day. The narrative is first person point of view and is told by Sweetness, a single, African American woman. These characters try to function in a world filled with discrimination and hate. This African American mother is just trying to grasp
The color of your skin seems to be more important to her than family and the importance of loyalty. In her mind the color of her skin sets her above the African Americans. It allows her to feel shamed about her dark skinned daughter. “I may have don’t some hurtful things to my only child because I had to protect her.” The speaker keeps referring back to the fact she has to “protect” her. Is she protecting her daughter or herself? She is helping her daughter, but at the same time she is hurting her. “Her color is a cross she will always carry. But it’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not.” All she is trying to do is make it known that it’s not her fault. She didn’t mean to have a black baby and she would take it back if she could. It’s actually pretty sad because this mother doesn’t really want this baby but she feels almost “stuck” with her. She feel so bad that she must raise her to be a beautiful woman. That’s just what she does.
Lula Ann ends up beautiful, successful and a happy life on her own. “Last two times I saw her she was, well, striking. Kind of bold and confident.” Sweetness didn’t have much of a choice on how to raise Lula Ann. With how society was and everyone treated them badly, she had to be string and tough on Lula Ann. All of it made her the woman she is today. Strong, confident and independent. The speaker states “What you do to children matter. And they might never forget.”
Yes she was tough, but she needed to be. “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.” When you grow up around everyone telling you you’re wrong or you should look a certain way, you start to get over it. It makes you want to do the opposite, and that’s what Lula Ann did. Obviously now she’s grownup and African Americans are a little more accepted. It’s smart for her to use her color to her advantage, especially after having to hide it for most of her childhood. The speaker ends the story with “Good luck, and God help the child.” She is saying good luck to Lula Ann because she is now off getting married and having a baby herself. Sweetness just wants the best for her and for her give her baby a better life than she could have given