Once Upon A Time Gordimer

“Once Upon a Time,” written by Nadine Gordimer, is a story that tells about how people should embrace their community and that sometimes fears are more dangerous than their “enemies.” Gordimer’s bedtime story relayed her character’s fears for the outside world as well as her fears that by closing themselves in, they are more dangerous to themselves. The story within a story gives the reader more insight on Gordimer’s fears as well as common fears. The bedtime story that Gordimer uses to fall asleep is not one that children today would hear before they fall asleep at night. This is not a story that adults would find soothing at night either, yet this is a story that opens the eyes of the reader in many different ways. The reader learns that
The family feared people that did not look like them. The irony in the story is very important to the overall effect. The irony of the family’s own wall killing the son helps the reader understand how paranoia is dangerous. The irony of as more people put gates up, more of the “others” came into the streets shows the reader that they cannot lock themselves into their homes. By locking themselves in, the family became more vulnerable. The irony of the wise old witch, or the husband’s mother, is almost overlooked. On page 236 Gordimer writes, “One evening, the mother read the little boy to sleep with a fairy story from the book the wise old witch had given him at Christmas. Next day he pretended to be the Prince who braves the terrible thicket of thorns to enter the palace and kiss the Sleeping Beauty back to life: He dragged a ladder to the wall, the shining coiled tunnel was just wide enough for his little body to creep in, and with the first fixing of its razor teeth in his knees and hands and head he screamed and struggled deeper into its tangle.” (Gordimer) The boy died after reenacting a story that the wise witch gave him. The wise witch also paid for the wall that was ultimately responsible for the little boy’s demise. This was stated on page 234 when she writes, “And the wise old witch, the husband’s mother, paid for the extra bricks as her Christmas present to her son and his wife—the little boy got a Space Man outfit and a book of fairy tales.” The wise witch gave the family the item that was supposed to keep the family safe, or the brick wall, the item that gave the boy the idea to climb the wall, or the story book, and the advice to not take in anyone off the street. The wise witch instilled fear into the wife and the husband by telling them that something bad