Once Upon a Time

Based on the story’s context of apartheid South Africa, Gordimer allows readers to fill in her characters’ racial identities. Conventional readings assume the narrator and the suburban family are white while the domestic staff and “people of another colour” are Black. Are there other ways to interpret the characters’ races? Why or why not?

How important is race in “Once Upon a Time”? Could the story take place outside the context of apartheid South Africa and retain its significance? Why or why not?

Older versions of fairy tales are often more violent than their modern adaptations and contain themes such as incest, brutality, rape, and death. In light of this fact, discuss the narrator’s story. In what ways does it qualify as a fairy tale for children, and in what ways does it relate an allegory for adult readers?

How does Gordimer convey to the reader that the family’s racist and political fears motivate their actions when they seek additional security measures? Consider how she portrays their logic, and cite examples from the text.

Find and analyze a sentence or passage that displays Gordimer’s technique of controlling the reader’s emotional experience of the text through sentence structure. What literary devices and elements evoke emotion, and how?

What is the significance of the cat in the story? How does it relate to the fairy tale’s major themes?

How does Gordimer depict the relationship between the unemployed people from the townships and the people in the suburb? How does each group view the other, and what do they want from each other? Support your answer with examples from the text.

Traditionally, fairy tales are instructive. What lessons are taught in “Once Upon a Time”? Are these lessons straightforward or ambiguous? How does the text convey this?