BBL 3201 INTRODUCTION TO CRITICAL APPRECIATION

ASSIGNMENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This paper is about Nadine Gordimers Once Upon a Time, where I have to
analysis some of the literary terms and present it in an essay form !irst of all, I
would li"e to than" #r $an %osele&am for her support and 'uidelines $ith her
'uidelines and support, I am able to understand the need of the (uestion and the
story itself The e)planations that #r $an %osele&am 'ave to me are easily
understood by me and it helps me analy&e the whole story and be able to write this
essay The analysis are written ma*orly by referrin' to the notes and in+class
discussion that done by #r $an %osele&am to'ether with my classmates ,'ain I
would li"e to show my 'reat appreciation on her effort to ma"e me clearly
understand the story well and than" you for all the e)planation, discussions and the
'uidelines
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NADINE GORDIMERS ONCE UPON A TIME
This essay is about the literary analysis of Nadine Gordimers Once Upon a
Time -he wrote this short story durin' .//. 0efore analy&in' the short story, it is
better to "now the cultural bac"'round of the writer1author and the cultural conte)t of
the story itself
Nadine Gordimer, best "nown for her contribution in the field of literature The
winner of the Nobel 2ri&e for literature bac" in .//. wrote plenty of short story,
essays and novels about -outh ,frica, where she 'rew up since she was fifteen 3er
wor"s are normally connected to the optimism and pessimism in accord with the
chan'in' nature of ,frica 3er wor" was often banned from her own country because
she will condemn the political system of her country
The cultural conte)t of the story was the race determined where a citi&en
could live, what "ind of wor" you will 'et, what "ind of education you will 'et, and to
whom you can marry durin' -outh ,fricas colour discrimination re'ime 2owerful
white minority sanctioned racial se're'ation and political and economic
discrimination a'ainst the ma*ority non+whites #urin' this time, white ,frican
se're'ated them from the blac" ,frican and e)acerbated the hostility between the
races
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THEME
In Nadine Gordimers Once Upon a Time, the most important element is its
theme The entire story is set about tellin' its readers that human bein's create their
own destruction, as in the family becomes obsessed with installin' security devices,
but their plan bac"fires because in the end their son is "illed by their fence
POINT OF VIEW
The point of view that portrayed in Nadine Gordimers Once Upon a Time is
the third person omniscient, where the narrator "nows a lot about the characters of
the story -tartin' from the wife, the husband, the housemaid, the 'ardener and the
little boy The narrator even "nows about the type of nei'hbours and nei'hbourhood
of that place The narrator also "nows about the settin' and the political situation of
the certain place where the story was told
TONE/ATMOSPHERE
In Nadine Gordimers Once Upon a Time, the most prevailin' element is the
tone and atmosphere The atmosphere of dread that portrayed in this story which
each human has e)perience at one time in their life, *ust li"e the wife e)perienced in
this story The tone of this short story is the person vs self conflict and sarcastic to
the contemporary situation durin' the colour discrimination period 4 apartheid
re'ime
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PLOT
The story be'ins with the author presentin' a situation in which 'reat fear
e)ist -he hears a noise and is afraid of a bur'lar or murderer inside her house
3owever, she soon comes to reali&e that her fear was really *ust the shiftin' of the
earth Then the story comes to a house in a suburb area where a man, wife, little boy
lived in a house $here swimmin' pool are fenced so that the little boy would not fall
in and drawn They had a trustworthy housemaid and itinerant 'ardener whom
recommended by the nei'hbours Their house is well e(uipped with security devices
and yet the wife seems not satisfied with the level of security they have This
because theres riot happenin' outside their nei'hbourhood and the wife really
scared and worried that it could happen nearby their house and she want to protect
her family -o she tal"s to her husband re'ardin' this and to satisfy his wife, the
husband build more and more security features *ust li"e hi'h walls around their
compound, electronic controlled 'ates fitted with intercom for the visitors to tell their
intention of visitation 5ven thou'h with all these security features fitted in her house,
the wife still seems unhappy about the security of her house and family and this
didnt help the wife from worryin' about bur'lars brea" into their house They install
an alarm system that attached to all the doors and windows around the house
3eard of intrusion in broad dayli'ht, the wife and the husbands mother as" the man
to install iron 'rilles endin' in lance points and twelve inch pi"es finned li"e &i'&a's
of li'htnin' and painted pure white and a YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED silhouette of
a would be intruder Then for 6hristmas the mother 7in law presents a set of story
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boo" to her 'randchild and some money to her son and dau'hter 7in laws to install
much more cuttin' ed'e technolo'y security devices
The mother of the little boy always tells a bedtime story to her son One of it was,
sleepin' beauty and the prince $here in this story the prince will ta"e all the efforts
to 'et and save the princess The prince went throu'h coiled wire and sharp ends
pines and climb up ra&or teeth coiled tunnel and hi'h walls *ust to save her princess
!inally the prince succeeds in savin' the princess from the castle The little boy
obsessed with the story on how the prince succeeds in went throu'h all the sharp
ends pined wires to save the princess
The ne)t day, the little boy with his cat tried to imitate the story The little boy
as the prince climb up his houses wall fitted with ra&or sharp teeth coiled wires to
save the princess $hile the little boy was climbin', he set off the alarm system8 he
stuc" in between the ra&or sharp teeth coiled wires The poor little boy stuc" inside
the fatal brin' coiled wire that hurt his "nees and hands 3is parents, 'ardener and
housemaid rushed to save the boy The 'ardener cant save the boy and hurt himself
in effort to save the little boy The boy was ripped of his s"in and flesh out from his
body by the cruel sharp teeth coiled wires in front of his own parents 3is own
parents are helpless to save their son They watched helplessly that the boy been
"illed cant do anythin' !inally the boy died bleedin' with his flesh ripped of his
body
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IMAGES AND/OR SYMBOLS
The si'n YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED appears as if to personally warn the
reader about the dan'ers to come in the story It mentions an intruder on the si'n
0y the end of the story, we reali&e that this faceless intruder does not have to be a
person at all 0it could be an internal intruder in our lives In the case of this family,
the intruder is their inability to pay attention to the important thin's in life They allow
themselves to ta"e such an e)treme way on security that they lose si'ht of their son
The repetition of YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED stands to tell readers that this story
is in fact warnin' them that with each move they ma"e they build their own prison
and brin' on their own destruction
The child dies from the fence, which was meant to protect the family The 'ate
spea"er1intercom is used by the boy for a wal"ie tal"ie, which was meant to use by
the people who have to tell their intention of their visit The alarm set off, but no one
cares, which was meant to 'ive alert1warnin' to the owner on any intrusion The hi'h
wall is moc"ed by the cat *umpin' over it The ultimate destruction is obvious when
the boy was "illed by the barbed wire ,ll these precaution shows that the characters
thou'ht they would die without instead brin' on unseen death
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CONCLUSION
,s in conclusion, humans are destroyed by the thin's that he1she create or do
to protect themselves No matter how advanced the devices can 'o, thats how far
you will have to be cautious Nadine Gordimers Once Upon a Time, clearly shows
and depicts these issues in people daily life with less attention 'iven to their "ids
The ultimate security device would be you on how to protect yourself without any
security devices
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WORK CITED
BOOKS
9irs&ner : ;andell, Literature reading;reacting;writing <
th
5dition 0oston= Thomson
$adsworth, >??@
3ines, 5mily, A Literary Analysis ! Nadine "rdi#er$s Once U%n a &i#e' New
Aor"= 2earson Bon'man, >??C


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