Once Upon A Time

Words: 549
Pages: 3

In Nadine Gordimer's “Once Upon A Time”, the theme is about the devastating consequences that can result when one overreacts to fear or perceived danger.The entire story is set about telling its readers that human beings create their own destruction.People cannot allow themselves to be ruled by fear.The setting of the two parts of the story is important,in the first part the setting is at night and the woman is all alone.In the second part people are afraid of colored people out of town who maybe attack them and ruin their lives.All this is brought together to leave the readers surprised,ready to rethink the importance of things in their own lives. In the introduction,the speaker is overwhelmed by her fear of ,what she thinks are burglars trying to invade her home.She hear a variety of sounds and wrongly assumes that these are caused by the men who could cause harm to her.She is anxious and filled with fear and becomes a victim of her own fear.Living in fear creates a prison of one's own making.The characters allow fear to dictate how they act. For example,”I was staring at the door,making it out in my mind rather …show more content…
They try to create a perfect sanctuary.For example,”Next day a gang of workmen came and stretched the razor -bladed coils all round the walls of the house where the husband and the wife and a little boy and pet dog and cat were living happily ever after”(Gordimer 235).In their minds,the danger is real.What they do not realize is that by seeking further isolation,they are making themselves even more vulnerable .They create a greater danger to themselves and to those they