A Fairies Twisted Tale

A Fairies Twisted Tale
Many fairy tales have a happy ending, once upon a time is not one of those. Incidentally, Nadine Gordimer wrote a modern fairy tale called Once Upon A Time about a family's fear of outsiders, around the era of apartheid when riots were common. In Gordimer's story, she uses imagery and irony to promote the idea that the irrational fear of outsiders leads to dire consequences.
The author uses imagery specifically sight to convey the idea of dire consequences caused by fear. Gordimer thinks that no amount of security can protect you. She writes about a neighbor who had a lot of protection but was still attacked “in broad daylight in a house two blocks away, last year, and the fierce dogs who guarded an old widower and
The author thinks that extraordinary protection does not benefit the homeowner. She wrote, “I have no burglar bars, no gun under the pillow, but I have the same fears as people who do take these precautions” which is ironic because she has “ the same fears” as the other people but her fear is not irrational. Gordimer did not have protection even though she was worried. So she may not think that all of the fancy protection will bring security. This is situational irony because she is afraid of a burglar, but does not purchase burglar bars. The homeowners had those same fears but the homeowner's fears manifested from the very thing they thought would protect them. Gordimer wrote “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”, the boys safety clearly was not accounted for and is a consequence of their actions and fears which ultimately lead to the child's death. The boy getting trapped in the fence is situational irony because they (the homeowners) thought the fence would protect them, but it ended up hurting their family. The homeowners focus on the boy's tragedy distracts them from finding what tripped the alarm. The author told us what happened when she wrote: “for some reason (the cat, probably) the alarm setup wailing against the screams.” The audience knows why the alarm was set off. This is dramatic ironic because we know something the characters do not.The character experience the consequences of fear as the are obvious from what tripped the alarm. Gordimer goes in depth into the homeowner ironic ways of keeping their family safe to dramatize the