According to a certain set of rules comprised by an unknown body, every writer ought to, in his/her lifetime, compose a story for children. According to the narrator of Once Upon A Time, however, writers are not obliged to write anything, particularly a children's story. But quite curiously, she tells herself the very same type of story in order to pacify her mind, late one restless night.
It is curious that the narrator used a story of this proportion to soothe herself, when the story's elements are anything but soothing. Ironically they are more of disturbing nature, using the simple fairy tale format of once-upon-a-time straight to the happily-ever-after, but this time with a twisted sense of that concluding happiness. In fact, all throughout this piece irony seems to be the connecting element.
In a white community plagued by fear of criminal activities by blacks, particularly break-ins and theft, a family took action to secure their home and their life. This family, made up of a wife, husband, and young son, lived with their "absolutely trustworthy" maid and "itinerant" gardener, whom the reader assumes are both black (Gordimer, 82). The family installed an electronic gate, was a member of the neighborhood watch, and implemented an alarm system as a means to protect themselves from potentially rioting thieves. .
In the typical style of a fairy tale, the main characters - the wife, husband and son - do not have a clear cut personality of their own. There is no direct speech or dialogue, and they have no individuality assigned to them. Strangely enough it is the mother-in-law, though she never engages in dialogue either, who is the only character that stands out as unique in the sense of a personality trait. She was addressed in the story as the "wise old witch" which, whenever read, would temporarily displace the sense of "fairy-tale flow" in the story .
(Gordimer, 82).
