Once Upon a Time

I thought that Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer was a fairytale story gone wrong. There are certain aspects of fairytales in this work such as the witch, the family that lived "happily ever after", and the perfect world in which they lived. However, the realization that the world is no longer a perfect bubble as the story continues and the twisted ending of the story turn this fairytale into a horror story. There are multiple themes conveyed in the short story such as happiness and perfection, segregation, and fantasy versus reality. The story also contains ironic situations in the end. As the family sees the threats around them, they begin to realize that their world isn't so perfect after all. They decide to isolate themselves from the others who are different than they are, which ties into the theme of segregation. The family tries so hard to protect themselves and their home, but that protection ultimately ends up killing their son. I also thought that the phrases "you have been warned" and "dragon's teeth" were both capitalized. I saw this as almost a foreshadowing of the barbed wire bringing tragedy a bad omen to the family.