Summary
Literature embraces various perspectives on the world and allows writers to explore social, economic, political, religious, and psychological issues prevailing in society at different times. Racial segregation has provided the basis for a broad discussion about ethnic disparities and discriminative practices against minority groups. Nadine Gordimer was a prominent South African writer who contributed to the discourse and elaborated on themes of apartheid and repression in South Africa in her literary works. Written in 1989, her short story “Once Upon a Time” explores the discrimination subject and disguises the anti-apartheid statement as a fairy tale (Rizzardi 43). This paper aims to analyze Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time” from the perspectives of “new” and post-colonial/ethnic criticism, as well as examine the historicist context and major themes presented in this short story.
Narration
To begin with, it is necessary to explore how the story is narrated. The author starts her “Once Upon a Time” with the first-person narration, where the unnamed main character recalls how strange noises in the house scared her the previous night. She has not taken any special safety measures, such as installing burglar bars or having a gun within her reach; however, she still has “the same fears as people who do take these precautions” (Gordimer 1). The narrator immediately feels like a crime victim, which defines the social context of the story and highlights that crime rates are likely high in the area where she lives. To her relief, the character realizes that the creaking is not caused by human steps on the floor but by the shifting of the house. From this point, Gordimer uses the third-person narration as the character tells herself “a bedtime story” to be able to sleep again (1). In other words, “Once Upon a Time” can be viewed as a story inside a story, narrated in the form of a fairy tale.
Themes
The major themes reflected in “Once Upon a Time” need to be defined. The narration reveals that the bedtime story was inspired by the character’s frightening experience in her own house on the previous night. As a result, a fairy tale about a man, his wife, and their son struggling to keep themselves safe was written. It is presented as a story for children, requested from the writer by an individual convinced that every writer must be committed to contributing to a children’s anthology. However, the symbolism and historical context of this literary work implies that “Once Upon a Time” explores the theme of racism, apartheid, and racial segregation and addresses issues that extend beyond youngsters’ audience. According to Rizzardi, Gordimer’s work is a “classical tragedy … that dictates both the form and the content of this brief story, which perfectly mirrors the three Aristotelian unities” (43). The themes of fear, security, separation, and wealth inequality are explored in “Once Upon a Time” through the use of conventional fairy tale elements which prevent the author from making an explicit political statement.
Post-Colonial/Ethnic Criticism
“Once Upon a Time” is narrated as a fairy tale that does not explicitly mention the geographical and time frames of the story. However, the writer’s background and perspective imply that it takes place during the apartheid era in South Africa, marked by white supremacy, racism, systemic oppression, crime, and violence. As stated by Patil, the “apartheid system in South Africa was a policy of racial discrimination which meant to maintain white domination over the blacks” and affected all aspects of social life (1033). Indeed, examples of institutionalized racism can be found throughout Gordimer’s story, ranging from the family’s paranoid concerns about their security to the portrayal of “trusted housemaids and gardeners” (3). As per the advice of the husband’s mother, the protagonists refrained from hiring workers off the street for safety reasons. Hence, the narrator’s story implies that black people were treated as a potential threat and could only be employed if the family’s neighbors recommended them as highly trustworthy.
Another evidence of the racial conflict in the story is the episode depicting black people wandering in the suburbs hoping to find work. However, the wealthy residents are biased and cautious enough to be unwilling to hire people from the streets. At the same time, the wife, portrayed as sympathetic to the beggars, attempts to send the housemaid with food to support them; nevertheless, the whole family soon agrees that it might only encourage crimes and increase the threat. These scenes suggest that the privileged class lives in fear of the black community, which appears irrational and implies the global issue of apartheid and its adverse impact on people’s lives. Even though the author does not make a clear statement, the content of this story provides enough examples of Gordimer’s disapproval of the segregationist policy against non-white citizens. “Once Upon a Time” accurately depicts the racial discrimination and territorial separation imposed by apartheid laws.
Historicist Criticism
The central themes of Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time” should be discussed with regard to the historical context of this story. During the apartheid era, segregation policies and laws divided the population into different groups on the basis of race and openly proclaimed the idea of white supremacy. Such an approach aimed to maintain control over the black community, which outnumbered its white counterpart. Apartheid implied territorial segregation and prevented people of different groups from mixing together, which is depicted in Gordimer’s short story, where a wealthy white family lives in the suburbs where black people are prohibited from residing.
At the same time, there are controversial views on racial segregation policies. Even though discriminative laws were imposed on citizens by the government, writers expressed their concerns regarding the violence and political power of the apartheid system, as well as its consequences for the whole community. According to Patil, Gordimer’s story suggests that even though the “apartheid system favored the whites over the blacks, the unjust policy was harmful to both blacks and whites” (1036). “Once Upon a Time” was an attempt to illustrate how harmful bias is and what dreadful consequences racist behavior can lead to. Moreover, Gordimer’s short story implies how privileged the white group is since they do not face such severe problems as unemployment, poverty, diseases, and weakness. Instead, the author emphasizes how socially secure the family is, with their medical and disaster insurance and the newest technology used to protect the property from intruders. Yet, their concerns continue to grow, and instead of living their lives in peace, the husband and wife constantly improve the security systems.
“New” Criticism
The symbols used in the story and their meaning in the context of “Once Upon a Time” need to be discussed. The “new criticism” is an approach that allows for exploring how symbols “convey a message “between the lines” (“Part Two” 2). In Gordimer’s short story, the wall built around the family’s house stands for separation. The husband and wife decide to make it higher to prevent burglars from accessing their house, and the husband’s mother assists them in this business. The wall symbolizes how the family frantically attempts to separate themselves from the hostile communities outside and protect themselves and their son. Furthermore, another symbol, the razor wire, is used by the author as a means of ultimate protection and separation from the outer world. Gordimer emphasizes that the husband and wife specifically chose this violent device which would result in a “struggle getting bloodier and bloodier, a deeper and sharper hooking and tearing of flesh” to destroy the intruder immediately (4). In a global meaning, the razor wire embodies apartheid and its horrendous consequences for society.
The Story’s Ending
In this regard, the symbolism of the story’s ending should be discussed. Despite all the protective measures against the outside world, the danger comes from inside, as the little boy decides to play near the deadly razor wire. Ironically, he imagines himself as a prince from the book read to him by his mother the night before. Gordimer’s fairy tale does not provide a happy ending, contrary to the common suggestion. As stated by Khalil et al., the author makes a point that “human beings are responsible for their own destruction, … their own made things are harmful to the human beings” (25). The tragic outcome proclaims that apartheid is the biggest threat that must be destroyed.
To summarize, Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time” is a short story that makes a metaphorical statement against racial segregation and apartheid. It represents the dangers of bias and inequalities associated with the system that supports white supremacy and illustrates the catastrophic consequences of such an approach. Disguised as a fairy tale, the political paradigm of the author emphasizes how people can be blinded by fear and hatred against non-white groups.
Works Cited
“Part Two of Our Last Analytical Tool Set: Critical Approaches.” English102 class handout.
Gordimer, Nadine. “Once Upon a Time.” English102 class handout. 1989.
Khalil, Muhammad Zohaib, et al. “Human Beings Create their Own Destruction: Critical Discourse Analysis of Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer.” Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 14, no. 6, 2017, pp. 24-27. CSCanada, Web.
Patil, Latika Subhash. “Protest Against Apartheid: A Study of the Selected Short Stories of Nadine Gordimer.”The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 8, no. 2, 2017, pp. 1033-1040, Web.
Rizzardi, Biancamaria. “Once Upon a Time” by Nadine Gordimer: A Fairy Tale for Peace.” Le Simplegadi, vol. XVII, no. 19, 2019, pp. 43-52. Research Gate, Web.