Once Upon A Time

A detailed Summary of Once Upon A Time


"ONCE UPON A TIME" by Nadine Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer wrote the story "Once Upon A Time" to caution her readers about a threat in all of our lives. This story reflects the dangers of allowing us to become focused on the wrong things in life. Taking our distractions to an extreme can destroy our quality of life. In this society, discrimination caused a chain reaction of events that led to the death of a young boy.

The story's opening paragraph depicts a perfect family taking all the normal precautions to keep them safe. "It was not possible to insure the house...against riot damage"(253) tells us that they were not able to protect themselves from everything. The sign "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED"(253) appears as if to personally warn the reader about the dangers to come in the story. It mentions an intruder on the sign. By the end of the story, we realize this faceless intruder does not have to be a person at all but could be an internal intruder in our lives. In the case of this family, the intruder is their inability to pay attention to the important things in life. They allow themselves to take such an extreme stance on security that they lose sight of their son.

The sign also makes a point that the "owner was no


racist"(253) because it showed a faceless intruder, but the wife expressed concern that the other race would tear down the sign and ruin their home. Obviously this society was having a problem with two clashing races. "There were riots...where people of another color were quartered"(253) states there was a separation of major powers. The story also has an emphasis on the "trusted" maid as if the family rarely would trust someone of her class. The wealthy tried to keep the other color suppressed and in doing so the neighborhood lived in fear of them. As the situation worsened, the wealthy did nothing to help the lower class. The society was focusing on skin color instead of the equal value of all life. Racism caused the wealthy their fear and the rioters to threaten them.

With total concentration on security, the parent's attention was taken away from more important things in life, their son's quality of life. Even after the "DRAGON'S TEETH" were installed, the parents' focus was not on their son. "She waited until the little boy had run off to play before she said, I hope the cat will take heed"(256) shows she was not focused on her son. Her focal point should have been teaching him about the dangers and making sure he could help protect himself. At the beginning, the family was trying to protec

Some common words found in the essay are:
Nadine Gordimer, DRAGON'S TEETH, quality life, family trying protect, nadine gordimer, protect themselves, faceless intruder, trying protect, attention life, family trying, lose sight,

Approximate Word count = 887
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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