Lesson video

Sweetness sees it as her duty to protect Lula Ann.

But what happens when Lula Ann grows up? Who does she become? Does she still require Sweetness' protection? Today, we're going to consider the mother-daughter relationship between Sweetness and Lula Ann and consider what happens to that relationship as the story progresses.

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.

My name is Mr. Pryke and welcome to this lesson on mother-daughter relationships in Toni Morrison's short story "Sweetness".

For today's lesson all you'll need is a pen and paper or something to write on and with.

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

When you're ready, we'll begin the lesson.

We'll begin by reading the next part of the story.

Once we've done that, we'll think about who Lula Ann has become now that she's an adult.

We'll consider the differences between Lula Ann and Sweetness and how these differences have affected their relationship as mother and daughter.

Let's get started.

"Sweetness" is the story of a light skinned black woman who gives birth to a dark skinned black baby.

This woman is called Sweetness.

Because of the colorism present in Sweetness' community, she finds it extremely difficult to love her child.

She has always been told that to have lighter skin is better has internalised those thoughts and believes them herself, her baby embarrasses her.

She is worried that to be seen with a dark skinned black baby will invite to discrimination even if she herself can pass as white.

Her baby, who she calls Lula Ann causes the breakdown of Sweetness' marriage to her husband, Louis.

Because he is a light skinned black man he cannot understand why his daughter is different and believes Sweetness has had an affair.

Sweetness tries to hide Lula Ann as much as she can.

She does not like to see other people's reactions to the fact that she has a dark skinned black child.

She tries to distance herself from her daughter telling Lula Ann she cannot call her mother but instead must call her by the name Sweetness.

Sweetness admits she's strict on Lula Ann but says it is necessary.

Lula Ann she says, needs to learn how to behave and keep her head down.

Sweetness is preparing her it seems for the discrimination she is likely to face throughout her life.

In fact, she talks about training Lula Ann to avoid white people and feels a sense of pride when she realises that her daughter is taking on board what she is saying.

Today, we're going to read an extract, which gives us a clue as to the type of person Lula Ann is now she's grown up.

It seems Sweetness' strict way of protecting Lula Ann has taken its toll.

Let's read on.

'Last two times I saw her she was, well, striking.

Kind of bold and confident.

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.

Taught me a lesson I should have known all along.

What you do to children matters and they might never forget.

As soon as she could, she left me alone in that awful apartment.

'She got as far away from me as she could: doled herself up and got a big-time job in California.

She don't call or visits anymore.

She sends me money and stuff every now and then, but I ain't seen her.

in I don't know how long.

' Lula Ann has always been kept down by her mother.

Her mother has been strict on her and has told her to keep her head down.

Sweetness is of a different generation.

She's taught Lula Ann to keep her head down because that is what she herself had to do.

The way she has parented Lula Ann has been influenced by how she herself was parented.

Here though, we see Lula Ann as part of a new generation.

A generation that has been allowed more privileges, born from those who have challenged discrimination and promoted equal rights.

Sweetness believes her daughter is striking, bold and confident.

A far cry from what Sweetness has taught her to be.

Remember, earlier in the story we were told that sweetness has told her daughter how to behave and how to keep her head down.

What do these three words tell us about Lula Ann? You may answer this question how you wish as full sentences, a mind map, a bullet point list, or as a set of notes.

If you feel as if you're happy to start answering this question now, pause the video here and press play when you're ready.

If however, you would like a little more support, keep the video playing.

To help with this activity think about other words for striking, bold, and confident.

For example, if I'm told that someone is confident, I'm going to think that their self-assured.

Confidence suggests to me that they are positive and don't let anyone stand in their way.

Thinking of other words that mean the same as striking, bold and confident will help us think about how Sweetness views Lula Ann.

Pause the video here if you now have enough information to help get you going, but leave the video playing if you would like one last bit of support.

If you're stuck with how to frame your answer, try using the sentence starter you can see on your screen.

Try and think of as many things as possible as to what the words 'striking,' 'bold' and 'confident' tell us about Lula Ann.

You might want to consider what a person who has been described using these three words might be thinking and feeling in their day to day lives.

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

Well done.

Let's look at some example answers.

Now remember, what you have at home is likely to be different to what you see on your screen.

Please don't worry if that's the case.

We all interpret stories in different ways.

So what you see on your screen is just one way of interpreting Lula Ann's character.

An acceptable answer to this question might read, the word 'striking', 'bold' and 'confident' tell us that Lula Ann is a self-assured character because she is clearly not afraid of what people think of her.

This is an acceptable answer because it clearly tells me the type of character Lulu Ann is and the reason as to why she might be this type of character.

A good answer might read, the word 'striking', 'bold' and 'confident' tell us that Lula Ann is a self-assured character because she is clearly not afraid of what people think of her.

She has not let what others think of her hold her back from achieving what she wants.

This is a good answer because it goes into slightly more detail as to why this person thinks Lula Ann is a self-assured character.

It expands on the point made in the acceptable answer by offering further predictions as to who Lula Ann is now.

If you've really thought about these words in detail, you could even say that she has turned what others think of as a weakness into a strength.

Remember, earlier in the story, Sweetness says Lula Ann I needed to learn how to behave, how to keep her head down and not to make trouble.

Here though, we realised that Lula Ann has not kept her head down and has made a success of her life as result.

She is striking and people notice her not for the colour of her skin, but for her bold and confident personality.

This begs the question, how is Luna Ann different from Sweetness? Sweetness has taught Lula Ann the same thing she was taught as a child.

Lula Ann may have followed these instructions as a child that as she's grown up, she's discovered for herself how she can live her life.

She's not a child who does not know much about the world anymore.

And as such has been able to experience firsthand what she is and isn't able to do.

I want us to revisit some extracts we've already read now.

One of the extracts focuses on how Lula Ann leads her life.

Three extracts focused on how Sweetness is leading her life.

As I read, consider the differences between the two characters.

Let's remind ourselves of who Lula Ann has become by rereading this extract.

Remember, Sweetness thinks her daughter is bold, confident and striking.

'She got as far away from me as she could: dolled herself up and got a big-time job in California.

She don't call or visit anymore.

She sends me money and stuff every now and then, but I ain't seen her in I don't know how long.

' Now focus on Sweetness.

How is she different to her daughter? She says, '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.

' 'How else can we avoid being spit on in a drugstore, elbowed at the bus stop, having to walk in the gutter to let whites have a whole sidewalk, being charged a nickel at the grocer's for a paper bag that's free to white shoppers? Let alone all the name -calling.

' 'I hate to say it, but from the very beginning in the maternity ward the baby, Lula Ann, embarrassed me'.

As we can see who Lula Ann has become is very different to who Sweetness is.

Lula Ann is not the quiet person her mother tried to get her to be.

With this in mind, I would like us to think about these differences in greater detail.

Remember, we only see Lula Ann from Sweetness' perspective.

So we can't be entirely sure if this is how Lula Ann actually feels herself.

However, based on the information we have learned from Sweetness' description of Lula Ann, I would like you to copy and complete this table detailing the differences between mother and daughter.

You can write these differences as notes just as I've done on the screen.

Here, I've given you two points to get you going.

We are told by Sweetness that Lula Ann has a good job and has moved to a nice area of the country.

Consider what else we know about Lula Ann and what we know about Sweetness.

Complete the table so that we can see the differences between the two.

If you need some help, go back to the extracts we just read as well as the summary of the story so far in the beginning of the video.

Pause the video here and press play when you're done.

Brilliant.

Let's take a look at the answers.

As I always say, don't worry if the answers here are different to what you see on your screen.

Have a look for any similarities between your answers and the answers on the screen and give yourself a tick if you find any.

So, for Lula Ann, we can predict that she does not want to talk to Sweetness because she sends Sweetness money, but does not see her mother face to face.

Sweetness says Lula Ann got a big time job suggesting she has money and that's her job is extremely important.

Society has allowed Lula Ann more privileges because of the time in which she's growing up.

Society is changing as well as racism and colorism are still existent.

Small improvements are beginning to make themselves known.

Sweetness of course grew up in a time where society has not allowed her privileges.

She does not have much money stemming from the poverty the prejudice has placed her in.

She is scared of discrimination and cannot be the bold, confident person Lula Ann is even though society has allowed her more privileges as well as her daughter.

We can also predict she does not live in a nice place.

Earlier on in the story we had her called her apartment awful.

Well done if you've got any of the ideas that you can see on your screen.

So, we've looked at the differences between mother and daughter and as such established that their relationship is different.

However, Lula Ann maybe more like Sweetness than we realise.

For example, Sweetness was embarrassed by Lula Ann when Lula Ann was first born.

She wanted to distance herself from Lula Ann, but still felt a duty to protect her.

Here, we see the same thing.

Lula Ann has less Sweetness most likely because of the strict way in which Sweetness raised her.

Sweetness has not outwardly shown Lula Ann the loved one would expect a mother to show their child.

Lula Ann breaks free of this.

Perhaps implying she does not see Sweetness as a mother.

However, she still feels a sense of duty to Sweetness to look after her.

She sends her money to ensure she is provided for.

Their relationship is a distant one.

Although for both the Sweetness and Lula Ann, there is a sense of duty.

They still feel the need to look after each other.

One thing is certain however, Sweetness hoped that Lula Ann would understand why she treated her in the way she did.

This is seen in the quotation.

'At first I couldn't see past all that black to know who she was and just plain love her.

But I do.

I really do.

I think she understands now.

I think so.

' This of course is not a hope which is proven to be true.

Lula Ann moves to get away from her mother as soon as she can.

Sweetness says, 'She don't call or visit anymore.

She sends me money and stuff every now and then, but I ain't seen her in I don't know how long.

' This brings us to your final task.

Here you have four statements.

Let me read them to you.

Statement one.

The relationship between Sweetness and Lula Ann has not changed at all.

Statement two.

The relationship between Sweetness and Lula Ann has completely broken down.

Statement three.

Sweetness and Lula Ann are friendly towards one another, but their relationship does not resemble a mother-daughter connection.

And statement four.

Sweetness and Lula Ann only connect because they are related by blood.

They do not love one another.

I would like you to use these four statements to help you answer this question.

What has happened to the relationship between mother and daughter? Copy the agree, disagree line, and then copy the statements, placing the statement you agree with most at the top and working your way down so that the statement you disagree with the most is at the bottom.

Then explain why you have placed these statements in the order you have.

This is your own opinion.

So there's no right answer for this activity.

Pause the video here to complete your task and press play when you're done That brings us to the end of today's lesson.

You may still have lots of questions about what we have covered today.

That's absolutely fine.

And if you need to, ask your parents, carers and teachers some of those questions.

If they do not know the answer, they may be able to help you find sources that can provide you with answers 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 complete the exit quiz when you click off the video.

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