Analysis

This study guide will help you analyze the short story “Sweetness” by Toni Morrison.

In the next few pages, we will look at the short story’s structure. The story is not chronological and does not respect traditional plot elements. Instead, it is presented as the inner monologue of the narrator. Important narrative elements are backstories and foreshadowing

We will examine the main characters, the narrator and Lula Ann/Bride, and their relationship.

We will explore the setting of the story, looking both at the physical places where the action takes places and at social aspects related to racial discrimination, segregation, marriage, and parenthood.

We will focus on narrator and point of view, considering how the first-person narrator conveys her story.

Finally, we will examine language elements like imagery, choice of words, similes, repetitions, rhetorical questions, and symbols, and their role in the story.

You can find the entire analysis of the short story in the next pages.