Nadine Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time” begins with the telling of two stories. The first is about the author, who awakes in the middle of the night, afraid of a possible intruder. Then, to distract her mind, she creates a second story. The story is a fairytale of an affluent family living in the suburbs, which have a baseless fear of the impoverished because of preconceived beliefs about racial tension. In response, they attempt …

…story emphasizes the dangers of living in fear because one refuses to become conscious of personal biases. Additionally, it illustrates how the creation of elaborate superficial defenses to hide and protect oneself from the realities of life will fail. No security measure is ever enough to contain the possible dangers that the mind can envision. Unavoidably, something within or without the individual will reach a boiling point that can no longer live within such confines.