Structured as a frame story, Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer (1989) focuses to an unnamed protagonist: a female novelist, who used introspection as a medium to combine two narratives. The outer layer of this framed story revolves around an experience of the female novelist after declining an offer to write a children’s story. The man who offered it insisted that she must contribute by having a belief that all writers should attempt writing for children. While being caught up in the moment, the female novelist tried to recall her experience last night where she heard a sound of footsteps. Fear devoured her that influenced her to recall violent crimes that recently happened in her neighborhood. As soon as the female novelist realizes that the sounds she is hearing are not from an intruder but from series of mines below the foundation of her house, she started to narrate a self-made bedtime story.
This self-made bedtime story became the inner layer of the frame narrative. In this bedtime story, the novelist imagines a happy family that has an obsession in safety. Their house has a pool that is fenced to avoid any falling or drowning and a Neighborhood Watch sign to stop any intruders. However, despite being too careful by installing almost all extreme home security, the razor-sharp fence aided the death of their son.
This frame narrative focuses on expressing fear and anxiety. As its main themes, the short story serves as a cautionary tale should someone let fear succumb to them. Specifically, it centralizes to wealth inequality and fear. This stemmed from the moment the female novelist started to believe that a home invasion is going on just because of the noises in the night. This scene may also be interpreted on how societies with wealth inequality will fail.
Another emerging theme from the narrative is the illusion of security. Involving both layers of the story, the discussion about security is anchored to both obsession and fear. These two fueled the imaginative mind of the novelist to come up with a bedtime story as her outlet of her experience that night where she instantly concluded that she might be in danger.
This passage encapsulates these themes:
I have no burglar bars, no gun under the pillow, but I have the same fears as people who do take these precautions, and my windowpanes are thin as rime, could shatter like a wineglass. A woman was murdered (how do they put it) in broad daylight in a house two blocks away, last year, and the fierce dogs who guarded an old widower and his collection of antique clocks were strangled before he was knifed by a casual labourer he had dismissed without pay.
One of the evident symbolisms in the story is the young boy. He stood for the lost of innocence. This young boy experienced being protected by his parents against other people of color who might invade their home. Sadly, this protection leads to his death; hence, the lost of innocence. This symbolism shows how society can rob the thriving innocence of someone through segregation which can result to isolation or death of self-identity. The young boy had no chance to develop since his parents controlled him by protecting him, and as a result, his isolation led to him having no self-identity apart from what his parents imposed.
The bars and fences served as symbols for racial segregation. The family surrounds their house with these because they fear that other people of color may intrude. This scene expressed how complexions create biases and prejudices. These symbols address the recurring issue found in the story: judging other people. The usage of the bars and fences also contribute to the establishment of the aforementioned theme of illusionary security.
Lastly, the razor wire that killed the boy symbolizes apartheid. Apartheid is an Afrikaans word that means “aparthood”. This became a tool for racial segregation. Looking back at the belief of the family, accusing another people of color to become potential intruders does not only encompass racism but also the imposing of separateness due to someone perceiving their superiority over others. This razor wire encourages the family to let this belief and behavior yield upon them. However, it resulted to a tragedy that can imply the failure waiting for everybody who will have the same ideals.
The young boy’s death plays a crucial role on realizing the effects of racism, wealth inequality, fear and anxiety, and apartheid. Through his death, the narrative successfully engages its readers to critically think about their beliefs, most importantly their biases and prejudices. His death also serves as a caveat that if the society will continue to share the same personality as the family of the young boy, death in humanity will uprise.
Once Upon a Time as a frame narrative shows a story within a story. In this case, the primary objective of its structure is to project the fear and anxiety of the female novelist through her bedtime story. This writing technique provides deeper meaning of the text while requiring the readers to visualize more the abstract themes being discussed in the entire literary text. Generally, a frame narrative does not only give way for introspection but also to retrospection. In here, retrospection will be the experience of the readers after closely reading the literary text.
Overall, Once Upon a Time is both thrilling and saddening to read but it showcases the harsh reality of African life. Through its writing technique—the frame narrative—both readers and writer can be exposed to a series of events happening within the imaginary world of an imaginary character where issues like racial segregation still manifest until today.
Tags: Once Upon a Time, Nadine Gordimer, literature, story analysis, themes and symbolism, contemporary relevance, LifeThinker.
