Analyse af Nadine Gordimers 'Once upon a time'

The fictional short story by South African writer Nadine Gordimer is a catching and groundbreaking story about being your own enemy because of prejudice and fear written as a modern-day fairytale about segregation and apartheid.

The text has a very clear message and that is to not let “foolish” fear get in the way and how reacting irrationally to “danger” can lead to us creating our own pain and heartbreak instead of creating our happiness. This is shown through our characters and their actions. In the story we are introduced to very few characters. Our main characters are a mother, a father, and a little boy. We are also introduced to a gardener, housekeeper, and the father’s mother. The text does not give the reader a clear vision of the characters as individuals but more as a group. One can see that in the beginning of the text where we have the quote “In a house, in a suburb, in a city, there were a man and his wife who loved each other very much […] and an itinerant gardener who was highly recommended by the neighbors”. In this paragraph we are introduced to all the characters, but we are not given any names or personal characteristic. We are only told where they live and how they feel for each other. Therefore, the characters could be interpreted more as vessels who share common emotions and fears and then their atmosphere creates a collective feeling of them and that feeling creates an understanding of their environment and struggles. The little boy stands out from the others because he has an innocence and seems to not be affected by the fear and prejudice, he is surrounded by that can be seen for example when he plays sleeping beauty (p. 100, ll.3 9-43). Their actions also show the reader how the characters are driven by fear and prejudice, we can see that in this quote “They are looking for a chance[...] then the wall should be higher”. In this quote the parents are seen feeding each other’s fears and insecurities while being worried about burglaries, this leads to them isolating themselves from the rest of the world and becoming quite misanthropic and paranoid. In the text we also see a lot of symbols that are referring to apartheid and getting in your own way. First the way the family tries to protect themselves with the gates and the wall, this could symbolize not only fear but also the way white and black people were separated. Later in the story they add pikes to their fence, and these pikes could symbolize a prison. They want to keep potential danger out and keep their family protected inside. Which leads to them imprisoning themselves. A very important symbol is the little boy. He radiates a very innocent energy, and he is completely unaware of the prejudice and fear that is controlling his parents’ life and somehow, he ends up being the victim. They have been so eager to protect their child and his innocence, and they end up losing it because of their efforts to divide themselves from potential danger and people of color. This shows both how racism was spread out in society and how the family were controlling themselves with prejudice and fear. The setting is also very important for the texts message and for our understanding of the text. We aren’t given a concrete time or location in the story, but the text is written in 1989, so it could be presumed that it takes place around that time. We are told in the text that the family lives in a white, wealthy suburban neighborhood, where people of color are not allowed unless they work as a housekeeper or in gardening, and in the section about the writer it says that Nadine wrote political literature especially about apartheid. Therefore, in conclusion the story takes place in the 20th century in South Africa during apartheid. This conclusion is very important for our understanding of the text, the characters, the theme, the message and of course Nadine’s mission as a writer. In conclusion of the analysis the themes in the story are fear because of the obvious fear that controls the family’s life. Prejudice, because of their thoughts about people of color. Love, because the parents make all their decisions based on the strong love they feel for their little family. Apartheid, because of the time, location and the way people of color are seen by white people and their place in society (P. 97, ll.19-22). The last theme is self-destruction because the family’s fear becomes an unconscious self-destructive behavior that leads to the son getting injured. This text is a short story however the genre of the text can be discussed a lot, because it has many fairytale traits like the title, and the reference to sleeping beauty (P. 100, l. 41.). Although it contains all these fairytale traits it’s still a very political, harsh piece that tells some unpleasant truths about humans and our society. Therefore, I would say it’s a fictional short story that also could be comprehended as a very modern fairytale.