Guilt

Through Sweetness's distinct first person point of view, the author explores the ways in which guilt might pervade and control the individual's understanding of reality, and identity. The short story opens with the lines: "It's not my fault. So you can't blame me" (1). Sweetness employs the second person, directly addressing her narrative to the reader. Iterations of these lines recur throughout the short story, and reveal Sweetness's true reasons for returning to her memories of and with her daughter, Lula Ann. Sweetness wants others to believe that she is blameless. However, she is also desperate to quell her own guilt, by convincing herself that she did the "best for [Lula Ann] under the circumstances" (5). Though Sweetness's narrative is propelled by her insistent refrain that she was not in fact "a bad mother," her first person narration betrays her (4). Indeed, Sweetness is not entirely convinced that her...