Structure

The plot of “Sweet Cream” by Julia Kelk is very simple as it presents a few conversations and an incident in the restroom.

Title

The title of the short story, “Sweet Cream”, refers to the sweet cream that the main character, Jenny, tastes from the desert table and the wedding cake: “She dipped her finger in a bowl of cream and licked the sugary white topping off it.” (p. 101, ll. 28-30);

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Beginning

The short story begins with a straightforward exposition, presenting the setting and the context of the events, along with the main characters: “The wedding ceremony was over and now the festivities had begun. It was a...

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Middle

The middle of the short story comprises the rising action and the climax. The rising action presents a few scenes at the wedding which emphasise the conflict and contrasts between two different cultures. For instance, Jenny and Fernando talk about the American wedding cake, and Jenny insists that Canadians would not make a cardboard cake: “She hadn’t been to a weeding up in Canada but she had never eaten a cardboard cake there…” (p. 98, ll. 31-33)

An important tension point is introduced when Jenny is in the restroom, and she asks a person (most probably a woman, as they are in the ladies' restroom, and Jenny refers to her as a woman) in the other toilet to hand her some paper, and the woman throws a handful of wet toilet paper: “And then a large gob of wet paper, smacked down on her neck, dripping, sodden, sliding down her back. She shrieked. ‘What the hell!’” (p. 99, ll. 30-32)

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Ending

The ending of the short story presents the falling action in which Jenny goes to the desert table and begins to taste the cream and the deserts until she eventually reaches the wedding cake and grabs the wax figurines from its top:

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