Question

20 POINTS!!

Gordimer described "Once Upon a Time" as a "bedtime story." In at least 100 words, discuss how her decision to set her
story in a fairy-tale world affected you as you read it. Use details from the story to support your answer.

Answer 1

At first, the narrator resists writing a children's story (although she has been asked to), saying she doesn't write children's literature.

Then, that night, she is awakened by a creaking noise in her dark house. She fears a robber or home invader. She remembers a woman murdered in her home two blocks away and a widower murdered by a disgruntled employee he had laid off. Having guard dogs didn't keep the widower safe. Blacks in South Africa have become increasingly angry at the terrible way they have been treated, and they are now fighting back.

Although the narrator realizes there is nobody in her house, she is still wide awake and frightened. Therefore, she says, she tells herself a "bedtime story."

This story is the fairy tale of a family so fearful of the outside world invading their beautiful home that they top the walls of their house with razor wire to feel safe. Unfortunately, their little boy gets tangled in the razor wire...

Answer 2

At first, the narrator resists writing a children's story (although she has been asked to), saying she doesn't write children's literature.

Then, that night, she is awakened by a creaking noise in her dark house. She fears a robber or home invader. She remembers a woman murdered in her home two blocks away and a widower murdered by a disgruntled employee he had laid off. Having guard dogs didn't keep the widower safe. Blacks in South Africa have become increasingly angry at the terrible way they have been treated, and they are now fighting back.

Although the narrator realizes there is nobody in her house, she is still wide awake and frightened. Therefore, she says, she tells herself a "bedtime story."

This story is the fairy tale of a family so fearful of the outside world invading their beautiful home that they top the walls of their house with razor wire to feel safe. Unfortunately, their little boy gets tangled in the razor wire...

Step-by-step explanation: