Structure

The short story “The Sweet Business” by Mary Griese begins in medias res with the main character’s family driving to the waterfall. At this point, we do not know about the conflict between the main character and her mother-in-law.

The main events take place chronologically, during the same day. Over the course of this day the main character gets a new perspective on her mother-in-law, as the mother-in-law suddenly opens up about her war experiences. However, the short story also contains a few very short flashbacks, because the main character’s perspective switches from present to past, as she remembers events which happened before. These past events help the reader make sense of the current conflict in the story. Therefore, we can say that the structure is non-linear. 

The flashbacks may be short, but the story relies heavily on them. For instance, the main character remembe...