Irony in Nadine Gordimer’s “Once upon a time” Essay

Once Upon a Social Issue Fairy rumors have always been told to us as shaverren whether to comfort or entertain us, they always seem to be a part of alwaysy(prenominal)ones childhood. Once Upon A Time, the title is a characteristic of a pouffe tale, but she leads the trading floor to an ending that is anything other than happily ever after (Gordimer 12). Although Nadine Gordimers title is typical in a fairy tale in the floor One upon a time, the allegory she bring throughs is anything but typical. quite of dealing with characteristics and synonymous with fairy tales, the author uses caustic remark to reflect the intellection of humans leading into their destruction. Because the story about the happy family is as far away from a fairy story as it sight be. She uses sentences as living happily ever after, the title Once upon a Time and lyric like +witch (Gordimer 12) to imitate a story for children, but this is not a fairytale. This is a story about the social injustices be tween people and the injustices in which we see in the world.Gordimer is not trying to write a story for children. She uses the fairytale-like language to clarify the irony in the story. One of the to a greater extent interesting examples of irony I found in the text was where the author wrote Consult DRAGONS odontiasis The sight For Total Security One evening, the mother read the little boy to sleep with a fairy story from the book the wise old witch had given him at Christmas. Next day he pretended to be the Prince who braves the terrible thicket of thorns to enter the palace and kiss the Sleeping Beauty sternward to life He dragged a ladder to the wall, the shining coiled tunnel was just wide abounding for his little body to creep in, and with the first fixing of its razor teeth in his knees and hands and ear he screamed and struggled deeper into its tangle. The trusted placemaid and the itinerant gardener, whose day it was, came running, the first to see and to scream wit h him, and the itinerant gardener tore his hands trying to get at the little boy.When it says DRAGONS TEETH it reminds me of a fairy tale. Usually in fairy talesThe story involves an upper class woman, generally a princess or similar blue-ranking nobility, saved from a dragon, either a literal dragon or a similar danger, by the hero (in this drive the little boy pretending to be a prince). After the mom reads the boy a story of saving the princess through thorns, which in this case is the blastoff wire from the company DRAGONS TEETH (Gordimer 14) the boy kisses the girl and brings her back to life. This fairy tale is ironic because usually fairy tales end happily while this fairy tale is a more realistic fairy tale. The storys first paragraph starts with family existing by a man, his wife, their grandmother, and their son. They raging in the suburb, in a city, in South Africa under the apartheid system.The separation between blacks and whites are huge, and every family in the su burb is secured in any possible way. No one from the outside is allowed in. Even though the husband keeps telling his wife that these people were not allowed into the suburb except as reli able maids and gardeners, so there was nothing to fear (Gordimer 12), the family keeps developing their safety equipment, in case something could happened. The irony is that the family has no base what is happening outside the fence. They call them these people (Gordimer 12) as if they dont even know that they visualise like. Gradually they add more protection to their home as their fear grows.Ironically, the protection they install boomerangs back and kills their son. The storys second paragraph also portrays a perfect family taking all the standard precautions to keep them safe. It was not possible to insure the houseagainst riot damage(Gordimer 12) tells us that they were not able to protect themselves from everything and the repetition of YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED (Gordimer 12) tells readers th at this story is in fact warning them that with each move they sterilise they build their own prison and bring on their own destruction.As well as the sign of the zodiac YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED wasnt just ironic but also has significance of foreshadowing by make an effort to continue to make their house safe, they brought it upon themselves that such misfortune should happen. There is also a indicate of an intruder on the sign. By the end of the story, we realize this intruder does not have to be a person at all but could be an internal intruder in our lives. In the case of this family, the intruder is their inability to pay attention to the important things in life and just barricade themselves from others. chaff adds to this final effect in that everything the parents do to protect theirhome becomes useless. The gate speaker is used by the boy as a walkie-talkie. The alarm is set off but no one cares. The high wall is mocked by the cat jumping over it. The ultimate destruction o f this is their own sons death. In the story, happily ever after (Gordimer 12) is constantly repeated which is ironic because they live in an injust society.This family is strained to keep to their own house and be scared for their lives, yet they are living happily ever after. The fact that the housemaid is the loyal one in the story is also ironic because stereotypically house workers are deceitful and try to steal their employers belongings as well as the housemaid is weeping and crying while the parents show no emotion. The biggest irony of Once Upon a Time is the child getting hurt by what was to protect him, especially since bed time stories and fairy tales are suppositious to end happily.In conclusion, the most important element in the story is irony, which is used to reflect the idea of humans leading into their own destruction. And although this story seems to be a fairy tale, Gordimer makes it so that the irony leads to a completely different perspective on the story. Ke eping in mind all these precautions/things the characters thought they would part without, bring on terrible misfortune, where the theme sends a very powerful message as well. In reality, many people are obsessed with protection and security. While they forget that being too paranoiac can result in danger.Works CitedGordimer, Nadine. Once upon a time. Pre-AP English 9 Supplementary Readings disadvantage and Social Inequity. Milton n.p., 2012. 12-14. Print.