Literary Analysis of

“Once Upon A Time ”

by Nadine Gordimer

Short Story Analysis Course

Supervised by

Assist. Prof. Dr. Behbud Muhammedzade

Prepared bBy:

Osama Mirkhan Nabi

Deceimber 15, 2014

1
Introduction

The South African novelist, short story writer and anti-apartheid activist Nadine
Gordimer enriched the world of literature with enormous number of astounding
literary pieces. Through her works she was seeking to establish the equality in
her society and all over the world;, thus, she was rewarded with noble prize in
literature in1991.

In this short story, Goldimer provokes many questions in readers’ mind about the
supremacy of the white community and the apartheid system in South Africa;, as
she pictures the miserable circumstances of the black community who have been
severely segregated. However, iIn spite of the fact that this story is a reverse
fiction which seems to have twists in the plot comparing with the title, it attracted
our attention due to the allegory it implies and the significance of the values it
reveals.

Thus, the aim of this paper isin this paper we aim to analyze the story literary and
provide it with necessary illustration. The major characteristics of short story are
considered in which we discuss about plots, conflicts, characters, themes, tone,
and personal value. In each aspect, weEach aspect is developed and proved
with good evidences.

2
1. Biography

The South African novelist, essayist, shorts story writer and political activist
Nadine Gordimer was born near Johannesburg in November 20th 1923, from a
Jewish parents. Alfred Nobel defined her in few words as the person "who
through her magnificent epic writing has been of a very great benefit to
humanity".1 Gordimer initiated her early education in a Catholic convent school,
but she was removed from the school by her mother at the age of eleven
claiming that she had some health issues. Spending most of her time isolated at
home, she started reading and writing, and published her first stories at age of
fifteen in 1937, also, she had her first adult fiction published.2 At the age of
twenty-two, she studied for one a year at the University of Witwatersrand where
she met activists and artists and started to explore the realm of South African
politics. She did not complete her studying at the university and returned back to
Johannesburg where she maintained writing fictions and short stories for local
South African magazines and collected many of these short stories in Face to
Face (Published in 1949). 3 She married in the same year of 1949 but this
marriage did not last, then she had her second marriage at in 1954 with Reinhold
Cassirer whom she stayed with until his death at in 2005.4 During 1950s, South
Africa suffered from a severe segregation under the apartheid authority system;,
thus, Gordimer’s political awareness awakened and reflected obviously in her
stories and novels, as anin instance, she published a novel A World of Strangers
(Published in 1958) in which she openly challenged the apartheid in it;, and as a
sequence, it was banned in South Africa to be read. She continued to live in
Johannesburg but occasionally traveled to United States to teach at some
universities about apartheid during 1960s to 1980s, and she gained her
internationally literary recognition after receiving her first major award at in 1961.

1
"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 17 Dec 2014.
<http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1991/>
2
“Nadine Gordimer.” The Guardian Unlimitted. 2 Jul. 2008. www.Theguardian.com.Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/13/nadine.gordimer>.
3
Constantakis, Sara. “Short stories for Students”. Vol 28. Detroit: Gale Cengage Learning, 2010.271. Print.
4
Steele, Jonathan. “White Magic.” The Guardian. 27 Oct. 2007. www.The guradia.com. web. 17 Dec.
2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/oct/27/fiction.artsandhumanities.>

3
In Johannesburg she joined the African National Congress and hid the leaders of
ANC, who were facing arrest, in her own house as well as anticipated in
demonstrations and many political activities. 5 Gordim wrote prolifically at that
time and won international literary prizes, including the Booker Prize for her novel
The Conservationist (published in 1974). In 1991, she published Jump and Other
Stories, which included the 1989 ‘‘Once Upon a Time.’’ And her literary
recognition for her achievements culminated in 1991 with the Noble Prize for
Literature. She publishe d more than a dozen novels and more than five hundred
short stories, including those in Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black (published
in 2007). Gordimer died peacefully in her sleep on 13 July 13th 2014 at the age of Formatted: Superscript

90.6

2. The Title

Having the first look to the title, it shapes and gives the classical idea of the fairy
tale stories. But, the fact is that when reading the whole story, the reader
realiszes a completely reversed image of the stereotypical shape of the fairy
tales since the fairy tales most often end up with happy endings. Thus, the short
story “Once Upon A Time” is a reverse fantasy in which the concept of the
reverse fantasy is the tale that the reader expects to end happily but instead it
has a twist in the plot which makes the end injustice or disastrous.

Moreover, Gordimer has written her short story in two parts. The readers
obviously realize the direct relationship between the narrator in the first part and
Gordimer.; iIn another words, the narrator that is the first character mentioned in
the story and the author seems to be the same as Gordimer in her voice, in the
first part tells the reader that she was asked to contribute to an anthology of
5
Wästberg, Per. "Nadine Gordimer and the South African Experience." Nobelprize.org. web. 17 Dec. 2014
<http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1991/gordimer-article.html>
6
Smith, David ."Nadine Gordimer dies aged 90". The Guardian. 15 July 2014. www.Theguardian.com.
Web. 17 Dec. 2014. < Http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/14/nadine-gordimer-dies-90-
johannesburg-nobel-prize.>

4
children’s literature but she refuses the request saying the she doesn’t does not
write children’s stories. Later on, while she lies in on her bed, she is awakened
by an unfamiliar sound thinking there must be an intruder but realiszes that it was
just the sound of creaking in the house. While she can’t cannot return to sleep,
she starts to tell herself a bed time story. ThusHence, the importance of the first
part is that to be essential to the entire story as it arouses the sense of
suspension tofor the reader wandering what would happen next and to
understand the main theme of the story. However, having the first look to the first
part gives the impression that it doesn’t does not fit with the artistic unity of the
story.
Furthermore, the most distinctive character and the major theme of Goldimer’s
writing were about apartheid and the segregation which black people agonized
from in her country in South Africa, even in her most simple works, this
characteristic is very obvious. As anIn instance, this short story is an outstanding
reference for that. Thus, she depicts in this short story the environment which
people where living in and it distinctively presents the racial segregation which
the migrants suffered, however, the setting is not clearly mentioned in the story
but due to Goldimer’s style of her previous writings and her long history, weit can
be induce confirmed that she refers to her own place she lives in. Also, the
atmosphere of the story is stressing in which there is a continuous stream of
pressure and fear we can findcan be found during the two parts of the story as it
could be defined as a fearful, gloomy, and stressing atmosphere.7

3. Plot Summary

The story consists of two parts and it begins recited with the first-person account Commented [R1]: This is not clear henase!

in which the author explains that she has been asked to write a short story for
children and to be collected in an anthology but she refuses as she has the
7
Riazzi, Laura. “Once Upon a Time Literary Analysis.” webcache.googleusercontent.com.
fairviewapenglish11.wikispaces.com, 30 Sept. 2009. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
<http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1uZdmTUjbYYJ:fairviewapenglish11.wikispace
s.com/file/view/Literary%2520Analysis%2520of%2520Once%2520Upon%2520a%2520Time.doc+&cd=10
&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=cy.>

5
artistic full right to write what she wants. Next moment, when lying on bed, she is
awakened horrified by a sound that she thinks it might be a burglar or a
murderer, but soon she comes to realisze that her fear was not something real,
since the sound which caused her horror was just a creaking sound of the house.
In order to calm down herself, she starts to tell herself a bed time story.8
The second part of story is narrated in the third-person point of view, describing a
family consisting of a father, mother, a little boy, a trustworthy housemaid and a
gardener. The members of the family love each other and they have a cat and a
dog. Since the family is living in a suburb which burglaries and riots are frequent,
so consequently, they try to enhance their security system of the house. Though,
they have a plaque on their gate that reads “YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED”, the
wife is very paranoid and scared as she wants to keep their house more secure
and safer from the riots and burglars. As the unemployment rises, the housemaid
and the wife begs the husband to increase the level of security. Thus, the
husband’s mother that is describeds as “the wise old witch” who gives the family
some money as a Christmas present to make their brick wall higher, and gives
the boy a Space Man suit and a book of fairy tales. The family decides to have
rolls of razor wire from a company called ‘‘DRAGON’S TEETH’’—installed along
the top of their wall and now they look much safer and again “happily lived after”.
At the night, the mother reads a bed time fairy tale to the boy. The next morning,
the boy pretends to be the Prince from the fairy tale and tries to make his way
through razor wire, and heavily bleeds and by the end, when the adult manage to Formatted: Font: (Default) +Body CS (Arial), 12 pt, Font
color: Text 1, Pattern: Clear (White)
cut him out and carry him to the house, he is dead.9

8
Gordimer, Nadine. “ Once Upon A Time.” nexuslearning.net. www.nexuslearning.net. Web. 17 Dec.
2014.
<http://www.nexuslearning.net/books/elements_of_lit_course6/20th%20Century/Collection%2015/Once
UponaTime.htm.>
9
Navar. “Once Upon A Time by : Nadine Gordiemr.” thebestshortstories.weebly.com. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
< http://thebestshortstories.weebly.com/once-upon-a-time.html.>

6
4. Conflicts
Many conflicts can be found in the story. The most important ones are
presented below:

4.1 Man Vs Self

The first part of the story is totally dedicated to the first-person account character Commented [R2]: Again not clear!

(the author) explaining her refusal to compose a children’s story upon the request
of an editor to be later on collected in an anthology with other works. She justifies
her excuse as she doesn’t not write for children, but when lying on bed at the
night while a asleep, she wakes up scared on a strange sound which she thinks
to be an intruder or murderer then the sound turns to be the creaking of the
house. While lying awake, ironically she starts to tell herself a bed time fairy tale
story “Oonce Uupon a Ttime”. The conflict her rises between herself and her
inner side by telling the story due to calm down herself.

4.2 Man Vs Society

The second part of the story embraces the most fundamental conflict of the story.
The family in the short story at the very first are described to be happy with their
properties; living in a lovely suburb, loving each other and having a dog and cat.
But the story shifts to explain that riots and burglary are frequent in the suburb,
as a sequence, the parents, especially the mother, is over paranoid to increase
their security system. This part of the story depicts the family’s conflict between
themselves and the outside world. As the unemployment rises and people seek
for works, the family becomes highly concerned about their security system and
they shield themselves behind high walls with their tops covered by razor wires,
the electronic gate and a plaque on the door with words read “YOU HAVE BEEN
WARNED”, all these physical entities represent the family’s conflict with the
outside world as well as their concern about racial and social class. Ironically,

7
what they strive for is to protect themselves from danger leads to the most
disastrous consequence, their son’s death, as he pretends to cross thorough the
wire but bleeds heavily. ThusAccordingly, Gordimer shows that how detaching
from the outside world and the life which is driven by fear and mistrust can lead
to our downfall rather than keeping us safe.10

5. Characters

5.1 The Narrator

The narrator is the first character in the story whose name or any physical details
are not given, but the reader infers that she is Gordimer “the author. The first part
of the story is narrated by the first-person account and she tells the readers in
her voice that she was asked to contribute to an anthology by composing a
children’s short story. She refuses to write saying that she doesn’t does not write
for children. Later on, she narrates how she is awakened terrified by a sound
which she imagined to be a thief trying to enter the house and interprets every
single sound and shadow as threaten. Then, soon she realiszes the sound was
just of the shifting of the house that might be produced due to some gold mines
that exist far under her house. Unable returning to sleep, she starts to tell herself
a bedtime story; the story of the a little boy, the a wife and husband. 11

5.2 The Boy

10
Kannan, Ashley. “Discuss the Significance of Conflict in Once Upon A Time.” enotes.com. WWW.enotes
.com. 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 17 Dec.2014. < http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-types-conflict-s-
that-occurs-this-story-how-330855>.

11
Constantakis, Sara. “Short stories for Students”. Vol 28. Detroit: Gale Cengage Learning, 2010.272 Print.

8
The boy in the story like the rest of characters is nameless, silent and
anonymous. He is not described in the story except few times describes as
“little”. The boy is unnamed intentionally by the author to make the reader deduce
the fact that he resembles countless boys or children of his age at in South Africa
who at the end becomes the scapegoats of the racial segregations. During the
story, the boy doesn’t does not understand his parent’s paranoia that leads to
increase the security of the house to protect him; he has the common
imagination of children and plays with security microphones considering them as
police’s walkie-talkie to play cops and robbers. At the end of the story, when his
grandmother gives him a book of fairy story as Christmas present, he pretends to
be the prince who saves the princess and crawls through the razor wire which is
full of thrones and bleeds to death.12

5.3 The Gardener

The gardener works for the wife and the husband as “itinerant gardener” that
means he works for many for many others and has many costumers. He is a
black South African and who is highly recommended by the neighbors to the
family for being a reliable person, since the white people saw most of the black
people at that time to be untrustworthy or cannot rely on. At the end of the story,
when the boy is trapped in the wires, he and the housemaid are the first persons
to hear the little boy’s screams. He himself screams and cuts his hands
attempting to rescue the little boy and starts to weep as the rescue comes late.13

5.4 The Housemaid

Same as gardener, the housemaidshe works for the wife and husband as a
housemaid., she is mentioned frequently as “trusted housemaid” and “absolutely
trustworthy”. Throughout the course of the story, she appears to be as

12
ibid
13
ibid

9
susceptible to the fears that the family has. After another housemaid is tied by
burglars, she urges the husband to have window bars and to install alarm
system. As well as, when the wife sends tea and bread to the unemployment
people who stand at the door looking for jobs, she convinces the family to stop
feeding them. At the end, when the little boy crawls through the razor wire, she
carries his body to inside the hose and is described as “thy hysterical trusted
housemaid”.14

5.5 The Husband

The husband He is a whit South African man who lives in a suburb inhabited only Commented [R3]: You cannot start ur first sentence with “he”
as you have not introduced him first!
by whites in which the blacks are not allowed to live in. He has a wife and a little
boy whom he loves very much. His occupation is not mentioned in the story, but
his financial conditions seem to be good as he can afford for having a good
house with a yard and a swimming pool that is looked after by a housemaid and
a gardener, also he has a caravan trailer. He has more knowledge about the riots
happening in the suburb, but is less worried than his wife and he tries to ensure
his wife and to make her happy by all means. hHe starts to install the door
speaker and makes window bars. His fear rises when the black unemployment
spread in the neighborhood looking for occupations, and tells his wife to stop
feeding them. He tells his wife to bring the little boy’s tricycle inside the house to
protect it from thieves. Then with his wife, they decide to cover their high walls
with razor wire and at the end when the little boy crawls into the wire and dies,
the author depicts the housemaid as hysterical and the gardener as weeping, but
he and his wife are not described to reflect the same affection.15

5.6 The Wife

14
Ibid

15
ibid

10
She The wife is a white middle-class housewife who lives in a suburb inhabited
only by whites and has a black housemaid and a black gardener. She has a
husband and a little boy whom she loves so much. She typically represents
South African white women during 1980s as she has less cognition about black
people referring to them as “such people”. In the story, she is depictedportrayed
as overwhelmingly distressed and anxious about the safety of her house and
family; she asks her husband to put window bars and install the alarm. Rather
than being cruel, she is showed to be more ignorant, as she offers tea and bread
to the black unemployed and homeless but stops doing that upon her husband’s
request. At the end of the story, one night she reads a fairy tale to her little boy
which next day appears to be the reason which leads to his death.. Ironically, like
her husband, she does not seem to have a mother reaction one expects towards
her son’s horrible death.16

5.7 The Wise Old Witch

She The wise old witch is the husband’s mother,. Llike all other characters, she is
an anonymous unnamed character. While reading the story, the reader deduces
the fact her name “The wise old witch” is just an allusion to the witches of the
fairy tales that gives presents with hidden dangers in them. In the short story, she
is depicted not to have any supernatural powers, but the gifts she offers to her
son’s family drive them to their catastrophe: she gives her son an amount of
money to buy more bricks to make their wall higher and after she gives the little
boy a Space Man suit and a book of fairy tale. The two presents from her
contribute in the plague of the family, as the little boy gets horribly killed.

6. Themes
The story presents two main themes which are explained below in details.

6.1 Apartheid

16
ibid

11
 The most fundamental theme of “Once Upon A Time” is the apartheid system Commented [R4]: Are you sure we make “a” capital?

which the South African black people suffered from nearly for five decades
starting from 1949 to-1994. Apartheid was a systematic racial segregation
against black citizens of South Africa which caused the class distinction between
whites and blacks. The blacks were in a desperate for works and food that led to
unwelcoming consequences in the society as the burglary and violence and riots
became an essential part of the daily life.17 In this short story, the time, place or
race of the people who live in the suburb and those who are prevented to enter is
not mentioned. But apparently it is South Africa since the major theme of
Gordimer’s works embrace apartheid as being anti-apartheid activist. Gordimer
depicts apartheid as a damaging force for both whites and blacks, for instance, in
the short story, she indicates to the bad circumstances of the black as they were
in lack of food and woks. Even more, they have been prevented to live in the
same areas of white people, unless if they worked in the suburb and that after
being highly recommended as in the case of the gardener in the short story and
the housemaid which is frequently described as “trusted” and “trustworthy”. On
the other hand, the death of the little boy depicts the disastrous outcome of the
apartheid even for the white people and the author uses it as a hint to indicate to
more widespread problems as being detached from the outside world and live in
a continuous state of fear and distress.18

6.2 Fear

Fear is the most distinct feature and theme in “Once Upon A time” which covers
almost the whole story. While reading the first part of the story, the reader may
think it has no connection with the title or seems not to fit with the piece of work
as one entity. But, after reading the second part, the reader comes to realisze the

17
Gallagher, Michael. "The birth and death of apartheid". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News, 17 June 2002.
Web. 17Dec.2014.< http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/575204.stm>
18
Keisling, Katy. "Internalized Oppression or Rational Fear: Examining Internal Group Animosity in Nadine
Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time”." FIVE: The Claremont Colleges Journal of Undergraduate Academic
Writing 2.1 (2013): 2. Web. 17 Dec.2014. <
http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=five>

12
fact that the theme of fear is the main link between two parts. In the first part, the
narrator that is the author in her turn gives an atmosphere full of fear as she
wakes up frightened thinking an intruder exist in the house as she hears some
sounds. As her predictions turn to be wrong, she describes herself as already
“being a victim” of fear and lays awake telling herself a bedtime story. In the
second part, the fear which is caused by the parents owns paranoia and the
housemaid’s as well leads them to build wall around themselves and hide from
the outside world. Ironically, any step for increasing the security made makes
them to feel unsafe more. However, the family has not suffered from any
burglaries but their minds were preoccupied by the prejudice about “the people of
another color”. From the very beginning the husband’s mother “witch”
encouraged them to be suspicious about the unemployment seeking for jobs.
The wife and husband take their precautions, but when the rate of the crime rises
in the area, the spouse’s minds become consumed with fear and dramatically
withdraw from the outside world to shape their own world which shrunk smaller
and smaller. They were unaware of the fact of what they do by taking thesethis
overwhelmingly precautions may lead to their own destruction as at the end as
their little boy horribly get killed trying to crawl through the coil. 19

7. Symbolism and Irony

7.1 Symbolism

19
Riazzi, Laura. “Once Upon a Time Literary Analysis.” webcache.googleusercontent.com.
fairviewapenglish11.wikispaces.com, 30 Sept. 2009. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
<http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1uZdmTUjbYYJ:fairviewapenglish11.wikispace
s.com/file/view/Literary%2520Analysis%2520of%2520Once%2520Upon%2520a%2520Time.doc+&cd=10
&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=cy.>

13
The short story tends to be an allegory as it loaded with symbols for the very
beginning till the end. The author in the short story uses the suburb in which the
family lives in as a symbol to refer to the white supremacy at the time of
apartheid. Moreover, the husband’s mother “the witch” in her turn symbolizes
supremacists who invaded South Africa; at the beginning she warns the family to
treat cautiously and not let “the people of another color” get closer to the house
as she regarded them as individuals who different from the individualsones living
in the suburb. Furthermore, the high walls covered with razor wire, alarm
systems and plaque on the gate, all represent the racial segregation and the
preconception which the black people suffered from at the time of apartheid.20

7.2 Irony

Throughout the story the reader can cite irony in many situations. The first irony
depicted in the story is when the writer refuses to write a story for the children but
she writes one anywayon a way at the end, as well as the title of the story itself is Commented [R5]: Do you mean this? Or/correct it?

used ironically as the readers once reading it, start to picture a happy ending as
in the stereotypical fairy tales. Another distinctive irony in the short story is what
the family considers to be the source of their security and happiness like the
alarm system and the razor wire which turns to hurt them first of allat the first
place as it causes the little boy’s death.21

8. Tone

20
Hines, Emily. “A Literary Analysis of Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time.” www.academia.edu.
Academia.edu. Web. 17 Dec. 2014. <
https://www.academia.edu/5070089/Summary_of_Once_Upon_a_Time>

21
Biggi, Brittany. “Once Upon a Time There Was a Literary Analysis.” webcache.googleusercontent.com.
fairviewapenglish11.wikispaces.com, 29 Oct 2009. Web. 17 Dec 2014.<
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1QNjsp4DG9wJ:https://fairviewapenglish11.wi
kispaces.com/file/view/Literary%2BAnalyisis.doc+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=cy>

14
The tone of the short story is to be considered satirical, as the author satiriszes
the white class supremacy and warns the readers of the dangerous outcomes of
it. As well asIn addition, it satiriszes the apartheid system of segregation that
made the community of small groups divided upon racial basis. Gordimer gives a
powerful message to the reader by visualiszing how the apartheid could be a Commented [R6]: Since you are following the british system,
stick with Britsh speeling please!
destructive power both for both the white and black people.

9. Conclusion

In this essay, Iwe attempted to analysze all the literary important characteristics
of short story in “Once Upon A Time “by the famous South African writer and ant-
apartheid activist Nadine Gordimer. We gave aA short biography of the author is
given and then discussed shortly the title of the story and its relation with the
righter and how itauthor are discussed. The short story is sectioned within two
parts; , the first part is dedicated to the first character as being asked to write a
short story for children but refuses, then how she comes to tell herself a bedtime
story while laying awake unable to sleep. The second part of the story is
dedicated to picture the misery of a family losing their little boy as he gets killed
as a sequence of his parents’ paranoia and preoccupied mind with prejudice
about the outside world and the people of another a different color.

We also discussed theAlso, main elements such as plots, conflicts, themes,

symbols, characters with examples and evidences from of the story are
presented. All these features were very interesting to discuss broadly and
provide them with more details, but because of the size of the paper, in our essay
we were able only toto the focus was only focus on the main essential points and
that have been analyszed them literarily. Thus, more illustration to depict the

15
apartheid impact on the life of people is highly recommended, as well as to
concentrate more on Goldimer’s message behind her literary pieces.

8. Bibliography

Biggi, Brittany. “Once Upon a Time There Was a Literary Analysis.”

webcache.googleusercontent.com. fairviewapenglish11.wikispaces.com, 29 Oct 2009.
Web. 17 Dec 2014.<
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1QNjsp4DG9wJ:https://fairvi
ewapenglish11.wikispaces.com/file/view/Literary%2BAnalyisis.doc+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=cl
nk&gl=cy>
Constantakis, Sara. “Short stories for Students”. Vol 28. Detroit: Gale Cengage Learning,
2010.271. Print.
Gallagher, Michael. "The birth and death of apartheid". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News, 17
June 2002. Web. 17Dec.2014.< http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/575204.stm>

Gordimer, Nadine. “ Once Upon A Time.” nexuslearning.net. www.nexuslearning.net.

Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.nexuslearning.net/books/elements_of_lit_course6/20th%20Century/Colle
ction%2015/OnceUponaTime.htm.>

16
Hines, Emily. “A Literary Analysis of Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time.”
www.academia.edu. Academia.edu. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
<https://www.academia.edu/5070089/Summary_of_Once_Upon_a_Time>

Kannan, Ashley. “Discuss the Significance of Conflict in Once Upon A Time.” enotes.com.
WWW.enotes .com. 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 17 Dec.2014. <
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-types-conflict-s-that-occurs-this-story-
how-330855>.

Keisling, Katy. "Internalized Oppression or Rational Fear: Examining Internal Group

Animosity in Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time”." FIVE: The Claremont Colleges
Journal of Undergraduate Academic Writing 2.1 (2013): 2. Web. 17 Dec.2014. <
http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=five>

“Nadine Gordimer.” The Guardian Unlimitted. 2 Jul. 2008. www.Theguardian.com.Web.

17 Dec. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/13/nadine.gordimer>.
Navar. “Once Upon A Time by : Nadine Gordiemr.” thebestshortstories.weebly.com.
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