Lesson video

A broken marriage, a woman ashamed of her own baby, the beginning of a complex relationship.

These are all ideas explored by Tony Morrison in her short story, "Sweetness." Ideas that we're going to explore ourselves today.

Today's lesson may leave you with some questions about racism and racial inequality.

You may find, you want to learn more about the matters we're going to discuss today once the lesson is over.

If you have any questions about what we cover, write them down as they appear and ask your parents or carers, or even your teachers.

If they don't know the answer themselves, they may be able to help you find the answer from a different source.

Hello everyone.

And welcome to this third lesson on "Sweetness" where we'll be exploring the themes of love and to guilt.

All you need to complete this lesson is a pen and paper or something to write on and with.

And if you can try and move yourself away from any distractions.

When you're ready, we'll begin.

We'll begin today's lesson by continuing to read the story.

Next, we're going to explore the theme of guilt in the story, considering "Sweetness" and her feelings towards her daughter.

We'll be looking at how Morrison has structured her story to introduce readers to this guilt, thinking particularly about her use of repetition.

We'll end the lesson by learning the term irony.

We'll be examining why Sweetness' name is ironic in itself before thinking about Sweetness' role as a mother and what she is like.

With that said and done, let's get going.

Let's quickly recap what happened last time.

Remember, "Sweetness" is the story of a light-skinned black woman who gives birth to a dark-skinned black child called Lula Ann.

Last lesson we heard how Lula Ann's father, Louis, struggles to accept the child for his own.

He looks at her like she's from the planet Jupiter and treats her as if she is a stranger, an enemy.

In the extract we read last lesson, we also heard how the marriage between Louis and Sweetness broke into pieces.

They struggled to comprehend the fact that their child is a dark-skinned black baby.

Something they have come to believe is bad due to what they have seen and experienced in their own lives.

The story continues then, and we find out how the relationship between Sweetness and her daughter begins to develop.

Let's read today's part of the story.

"I never did convince him "that I ain't never, ever fooled around with another man.

"He was dead sure I was lying.

"We argued and argued till I told him her blackness "had to be from his own family, not mine.

"That was when it got worse, "so bad he just up and left "and I had to look for another cheaper place to live.

"I did the best I could.

"I knew enough not to take her with me "when I applied to landlords, "so I left her with a teenage cousin to babysit.

"I didn't take her outside much anyway, "because when I pushed her in the baby carriage, "people would lean down and peek in to say something nice "and then give a start or jump back before frowning.

"That hurt.

"Back in the nineties when Lula Ann was born, "the law was against discriminating "in who you could rent to, "but not many landlords paid attention to it.

"They made up reasons to keep you out.

"But I got lucky with Mr. Leigh, "though I know he upped the rent $7 "from what's had advertised "and he had a fit if you were a minute late with the money.

"I told her to call me Sweetness instead of mother or mama.

"It was safer.

"It was just us two for a long while "and I don't have to tell you how hard it is "being an abandoned wife.

"I guess Louis felt a little bit bad "after leaving us like that because a few months later on, "he found out where I'd moved to "and started sending me money once a month, "though, I never asked him to "and didn't go to court to get it.

"His $50 money orders and my night job at the hospital "got me and Lula Ann off welfare.

"Things got better, but I still had to be careful, "very careful in how I raised her.

"I had to be strict, very strict.

"Lula Ann needed to learn how to behave, "how to keep her head down and not to make trouble.

"I don't care how many times she changes her name.

"Her colour is across she will always carry.

"But it's not my fault.

"It's not my fault.

"It's not." This is a powerful moment.

One which sees Sweetness admit that she is strict on her daughter.

She justifies her strict treatment of Lula Ann by implying that she's preparing her daughter for what she will experience later in life, if she hasn't already.

It's interesting that Sweetness ends this admission with, "But it's not my fault.

"It's not my fault.

"It's not." This would imply that she feels a sense of guilt.

We're going to consider now whether Sweetness feels this sense of guilt and more importantly, why she feels it.

The extract we've read ends with, "Her colour is across she will always carry.

"But it's not my fault.

"It's not my fault.

"It's not." These words have appeared in the story before.

In fact, the very first line of the story reads, "It's not my fault.

"So you can't blame me.

"I didn't do it and have no idea how it happened." This is called repetition.

Repetition is where words or phrases are repeated in a piece of writing, which is why you can see the repeat symbol on your screen, which some of you may be familiar with.

Let's have a look at some examples of repetition in a sentence.

Example one, "His arms ached, "his legs ached, his joints ached, "and even his eyes seemed to ache." Example two, "They sobbed their way through the film.

"It had been so sad "that they even sobbed the entire way." Here I have highlighted the examples of repetition.

In the first sentence, The writer is really keen to get across that everything aches and so repeats the word over and over.

It really stresses that the person the sentence is talking about aches everywhere.

In the second sentence, the writer repeats the word sobbed, which tells readers just how upset the people sobbing were.

Repetition is used to emphasise a point or to draw a reader's attention back to an idea that has already been introduced.

In these examples, the repetition is in the same sentence.

Toni Morrison however, uses repetition a little differently.

Here, we have the first part of the story.

As you can see, most of the lines have been redacted, meaning I've taken them away.

All I've left open for us to see is the example of repetition.

Toni Morrison says, "It's not my fault," at the very beginning of the story.

The story continues to describe what life is like for Sweetness and Lula Ann as a child, these are the parts I've taken away from the screen.

We then come to Morrison second use of, "It's not my fault." This is the same as the first line.

And so we can still call it repetition, even though it's not part of the same sentence.

Morrison has used repetition here and structured her story so that this repetition appears halfway through to draw our attention back to the fact that Sweetness is still protesting her innocence.

It is not her fault she says that she has given birth to a dark-skinned black baby.

With that in mind, can you remember the definition of repetition? Pause the video here, copy and complete the definition for repetition and press play when you're ready to resume, so we can go through the answers.

Well done, repetition is where words or phrases are repeated in a piece of writing.

Give yourself a tick for each word you got correct.

Please don't worry if you didn't remember all of the words, but ensure you make any corrections or fill in any missing gaps before moving on.

So, we've established what Toni Morrison repeats, but now we need to think about why, why does Morrison wish to draw a reader's attention back to Sweetness proclaiming that the fact she has given birth to a dark-skinned black baby is not her fault.

Why has the text being structured in this way? To answer this question, we need to understand a little more about how Sweetness is feeling.

Pause the video here and answer the following question.

What does the repetition of, "It's not my fault" suggest about the way Sweetness is feeling.

You can present your ideas how you like.

This might be as a mind map, a bullet point list or if you wish to, you can write your answer in full sentences.

This question is asking you for your own opinion.

So don't worry if you're unsure as to what the answer could be.

Write down what you think and we'll go through it together when you're done.

Press play when you're ready to resume.

There are many ways in which Sweetness might be feeling.

Her relationship with her daughter is a complex one and so she may be feeling many things.

You may have different ideas to what you're about to see on the screen.

Please don't worry if you do, here are just some of the ways in which sweetness might be feeling.

Sweetness might be feeling a sense of guilt.

She keeps on saying it's not her fault, but maybe deep down, she thinks it is.

Sweetness may feel as if she's being blamed for what has happened and has to protest her innocence before others can attack her.

There's a sense of desperation in her words, highlighted by the fact that "It's not my fault" is repeated.

She's pleading to be heard.

Sweetness may feel as if she needs to absolve herself of any wrongdoing.

If someone is absolved, they are cleared of any bad thing they have done.

Sweetness may feel as if someone else is to blame or is just adamant that she's right.

She knows she hasn't done anything wrong and will say it to anyone who accuses her of doing so.

If you can see any similarities between the answers on your screen and the answers you have at home, give yourself a tick, but please don't worry if these answers are different.

If you wish to, you may want to pause the video here so you can copy down some of these ideas.

That way you, won't forget them.

The repetition then has been used to highlight Sweetness' inner turmoil.

She feels confused and is truly at a loss as to what to do because of the way she feels about her daughter.

What Sweetness is feeling is very much at odds with her name.

In fact, through the name Sweetness, Morrison creates a sense of irony.

But what is irony? To answer this question, we're going to look at the name Sweetness in greater detail.

Sweetness is what Sweetness tells her daughter to call her.

Instead of the more familiar term of mother.

She says, "I told her to call me Sweetness "instead of mother or mama.

"It was safer." It's interesting that Sweetness says it's safer.

She is worried that people will be surprised if they see a light-skinned black mother with a dark-skinned black child.

However, it's the name Sweetness itself, which is an example of irony.

Before we talk about what irony actually is, I would like you to answer the following question.

What does the name Sweetness make you think of.

In your answer, I would like you to consider the type of character you'd expect someone to be with a name like Sweetness.

I'd like you to think about any images that form in your mind when you think of the name Sweetness and consider how the name sounds when you say it aloud.

Does it sound soothing or harsh? Why could that be important? You can present your ideas how you like.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, as always what you have as part of your answer at home may be different to what you're about to see on your screen.

I'm going to outline four basic ideas as to what one could put an answer to this question.

See if you can find any similarities between your answer and what you're going to see on your screen, but please don't worry if you can't find any.

The question I asked was what does the name Sweetness make you think of? The idea of something sweet is usually associated with something pleasant and pleasing.

We would assume that someone called Sweetness is both kind and caring.

Seeing as it's quite an affectionate name, it's something a parent might call a child.

When we say the name Sweetness out loud, it's quite calming.

The repeated S sounds, which we call sibilants creates a soothing sound as we say them.

Here then, we have the stereotypical image of a mother, let's now apply this to the text.

With these characteristics in mind, I would like you to pause the video and answer these two questions.

You may present your answers how you wish.

Question one, what is the character of Sweetness like in the story? Question two, does she possess any of the qualities we would associate with the name Sweetness? When you're answering these questions, try and give examples from the text to help you back up what you're saying.

You may want to play the part of the video where I'm reading the story again to help you, or even click on the previous video in this unit of work to help you remember what we read last lesson.

When you're ready, press play, and we'll go through some potential answers.

There are only some very simple answers here, and I imagine you've all gone into far more detail.

Hopefully though, you'll spot some similarities between the answers on the screen and the answers you have at home.

Sweetness is a strict character in the story and she admits it too.

She feels as if she has to prepare Lula Ann for the discrimination she will experience as she grows up.

Sweetness is quite a mean character.

She projects her experiences of prejudice onto her daughter.

Having spent years hearing and believing the things that have been said about her, she's come to believe them herself and is already passing these views to her daughter.

She does not believe her daughter can amount to anything because she is a dark-skinned black person.

This leads to some shocking thoughts.

She admits that when Lula Ann was first born, she considered leaving her at an orphanage because she was worried that her daughter would invite prejudice and discrimination on them both.

This means that Sweetness does not possess any of the qualities we would associate with her name.

She is not a kind person, she is not a typical motherly figure, she does not show her daughter any affection or kindness, although she might think she is being kind by preparing her daughter for a future she thinks will be filled with the discrimination.

This is what we call irony.

Irony is when our expectations are reversed.

This is only a very simple definition of irony.

There's a lot more to irony, but that's for a different lesson.

It's ironic that the narrator wants her child to call her Sweetness when she's being anything but sweet and kind to her child.

We expect a mother to be sweet and kind, but Sweetness is not, her name is ironic.

To help us understand irony further, we're going to consider these because, but, so sentences.

This is where you have the same sentence opener, but they all end with a different connective.

In this case, the connectives are because, but, and so.

This means the sentence will end in different ways.

Let me read the sentence openers I have here.

"The name Sweetness reminds me "of someone who is kind and caring because." "The name Sweetness reminds me "of someone who is kind and caring but." And, "The name Sweetness reminds me "of someone who is kind and caring so." I'm now going to show you how you could complete these.

Listen and watch carefully because you're going to be answering some because, but, so sentences of your own in just a moment.

This is how I would finish these three sentences.

The name Sweetness reminds me of someone who is kind and caring, because if someone is sweet, they are usually pleasant.

The name Sweetness reminds me of someone who is kind and caring but in the story, the character of Sweetness proves she is not through the way she views her daughter.

The name Sweetness reminds me of someone who is kind and caring so we are surprised by Sweetness' behaviour towards her daughter.

Notice how the end of the sentence changes each time.

The use of because, but, so means I have to think of different ways to finish the sentence.

Now it's your turn.

Here are some new sentence openers.

Number one, "The name Sweetness is ironic because." Number two, "The name sweetness is ironic but." And number three, "The name sweetness is ironic so." These sentence openers are challenging, so if you think you can answer them, pause the video and have a go.

See if you can answer at least two of the sentences.

If you'll struggle with this activity, keep the video running for some other sentence openers that may be a little easier.

If you're using these ones, pause the video and to press play when you're ready for the answers.

Here then, I have the same sentence starters as my example.

Number one, "The name Sweetness reminds me "of someone who is kind and caring because." Number two, "The main sweetness reminds me "of someone who is kind and caring but." And number three, "The name Sweetness reminds me "of someone who is kind and caring so." See if you can have a go at finishing the sentences, using all of your knowledge about the "Sweetness" short story to help you.

Try not to use the same answers as I showed you in my example, there's lots more you could put here.

If you're struggling to answer all of them, just do the ones you can do.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready so we can go through the answers.

Like the previous tasks, there are so many ideas you could put down here to finish off the sentences, which means you shouldn't worry if what you see on your screen is different to what you have at home.

See if you can spot any similarities between our answers, but don't worry if you can't.

Here's what you could have had.

Number one, "The name Sweetness is ironic "because it suggests something pleasant and kind, "but Sweetness as a mother is not." Number two, "The name Sweetness is ironic, "but Sweetness may believe she is doing the right thing "by her daughter by preparing her "for the discrimination she is likely to face." Number three, "The name Sweetness is ironic, "so as a reader, "we understand the complexity of Sweetness' character "and her relationship with her daughter." Here are more potential answers for the second lot of sentence starters.

Again, don't worry if what you have is different, but see if you can spot any similarities.

Number one, "The name Sweetness reminds me "of someone who is kind and caring "because the sound of the name out loud "is both soothing and calming." Number two, "The name Sweetness reminds me "of someone who is kind and caring, "but Sweetness does not display this kind of behaviour "in the story showing instead "that she is projecting prejudice, "that has been directed at her onto her daughter." And number three, "The name Sweetness reminds me "of someone who is kind and caring.

"so it may be strange at first to find "that Sweetness does not possess the motherly instincts "and actions that one would expect her to have." To finish then, here's an optional task.

I want you to explain to me how this quotation demonstrates the irony of Sweetness' name.

Let me read it to you.

"I even thought of giving her a way "to an orphanage someplace." We now know what we expect someone called Sweetness to be like.

How does this quotation reverse those expectations? This task is optional.

So if you want to complete it, you can present it how you like.

As a mind map or a bullet point list.

You may even wish to copy the quotation down, highlight key words and explain your thoughts as notes around the quotation.

It's completely up to you.

If you want, you could even just sit and reflect on the question.

Pause the video and press play when you're ready to resume.

If you're not going to complete this task, leave the video running.

That brings us to the end of today's lesson.

You may still have lots of questions about what we covered today, that's absolutely fine.

If you need to, ask your parents, carers or teachers some of your questions.

If they don't know the answer, they may be able to help you find sources that can provide you with an answer to your questions.

Well done for working so hard today.

I'm really impressed with all of your efforts.

All you need to do now is ensure you completely exit quiz when you click off the video.

Take care and I look forward to seeing you next time.