Answer:
The barbed wire.
Step-by-step explanation:
Nadine Gordimer's novel "Once Upon A Time" tells of how a family's attempts to keep out people of color ended in the death of their only child and son. Told from a third person point of view, the story follows the couple and their son in the Southern African nation where the issue of apartheid is still prevalent.
Nadine Gordimer's stories are rife with many symbolism and one among these is the bard wire that the couple put up in their property. The wall and the wire were placed to make sure that there are no intruders, especially colored people coming on their side of the city. The city had been experiencing vast protests and riots in the parts where "people of color' reside. So, they put up the barrier as a form of marking a boundary/ defense against any intrusion by these 'colored people'. This is also a clear symbol of the demarcation of the whites and blacks, the barrier that divides people, and the reluctance to mingle with one another. Gordimer used this barbed wire to show the distraction of South Africa's future, restricting it from any form of development.