What is the most important theme of "Once Upon a Time"?

Nadine Gorimer's Once Upon a Time?

Once a Upon Time

When Nadine Gordimer was asked to write a children's story . She replied with a short story titled Once Upon a Time . Although the title is characteristic of a fairy tale, she leads the tale to an ending start is anything other than"...... happily ever after .'Gordimer distorts the fairy tale by dealing with certain issues rather than giving the reader the usual fairy tale characteristics .Three of the more significant issues Gordimer likes to deal with in her story are racial discrimination and prejudice, society's insecurites, and the persuasive way fairy tales have with children . Godimer's Once Upon aTime has the feeling of insecurity right away .

In the first part of her story , Gordimer reminds us of our own insecurities . She brings up a familiar situation in which one is awakened by a bump in the night and connt go back to sleep because of fear or their own insecurities .Gordimer writes, '"Ihave no burglar bars, no gun under the pillow,but Ihave the same fear as people who do take these precautions ......" So, to better convey this issue of society's insecurities, she tells herself a bedtime story . In the story there is a family who is living "......... happilynever after ", yet is seems it is all that they can do to keep it that awya . Rather than putting their insecurities aside and getting on with their lives, they feel that they must put their trust in security devices to protect their selves . For a short while, the family has a sense of security by posting a plaque sating "You have been warned " over the sihouette of a prospective intruder .

In this story she describe the life of South African people and tells very miser able conditions of black peopl who were poor hugry baers the heigh socity peopl or white people hated them she also says that this differencearepresent every where no one sopt it. How ever according to this story people needed security .She describe after a short time the family's psychological need for more security calls for a number of new security devices in order to sustain the top level of security . It is in the family's p virtually pursuit of this "security" that they virtually imperison themselves . After the installation of burgler bars. Gormier describes the view "from every window and door in the house where they were living happily ever after they now saw the trees and sky through bars."

One of the less obvious issues lining Once Upon a Time is racial discrimination . Gordimer firsr suggestion that this suburb may be silghtly racist is by ststing that the plaque on their gate warring possible intruders didn't designate black or white , thereforew protesting too much the owner of the home not to be a racist .

As a final attempt at gaining complete security , the family pondered the addition of even more protection for their outside wall .The family's pursuit of a mental security booster was finshed when they lined the outside walls with razor wire that formed an unconquerable barrier .Feeling quite safe with their new wire defence, the mother fanilly feels secure enough to let her guard down and read her little boy a fairy tale . The fairy tale is a story about a prince who dashes through a terrible thicket of thorns to enter the palace and kiss the Sleeping Beauty and bring her back to life . Children, having the imaginations that they do , sometimes like to pretend ro be a hero as in the fairy tale, So, the next day , the little boy decides to also save the sleeping beauty by crawling through the shiny new obstacle atop the outside wall .

Once inside the young prince began to charbe through yhe insurmountable odds , and found them to be truly insurmountable . The tunnel stainless razor coils quickly entrapped the young boy ., tangling and terribly mangling him in his struggle to escape until fanally the boy connot any longer .

There can be many interpretations of the auther's meaning and purpose for writing . Gordimer ulitlizes this opportuunity to address the issue of insecurity that society is overrun by today .Gordimer wanted to show how someone living been with this issue . Gordimer to express her thoughts and feeling on these topics while also sort of defying an attempt by someone to have the audacity to tell her what she should write .

What is the theme of the book Once upon a time