The essay “Once Upon a Time” by Nadine Gordimer is a moral story about racism in South Africa that occurs between the rich and the poor. Gordimer explains that this story came about when someone wrote it and said that "every writer should write at least one story for children." “The story depicts a wealthy white family who continually invests in security measures in order to keep poor people, whom they view as dangerous, out of their homes. This essay reveals a great deal of irony as the story progresses. This allows readers to better understand the conflicts that arise when a community systematically makes decisions regarding a social class based on the actions of a member of that same social class. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayThe irony of “Once Upon a Time” begins with the title of the essay and the first words of the children's story. The words once upon a time are a “fairy tale approach and style” and they create a certain expectation that accompanies these words. The irony is the disastrous ending, very unusual for a story that begins with such a clichéd name and title. The fact that this family, "who felt extremely insecure in a changed environment and who instilled imaginary fears in themselves, and in order to protect themselves from the aggrieved black population", erected a huge fence with barbed wire at the top just to feel comfortable. The end of the story with the boy dragging a ladder to the wall, climbing it and being extremely injured and possibly even dying is not exactly the outcome they expected from this fence. The biggest example of irony I see is that she's supposed to be writing a children's story; as you can see, this story is anything but intended for children. At the end of Gordimer's story, the boy who lives in the house has the idea of ​​fighting a dragon like the knights in his children's stories. He starts trying to climb the fence around his house called "DRAGON TEETH", while climbing he gets tangled in the barbed wire. As the boy tries to get out, he is simply dragged deeper into the barbs, causing scrapes and cuts all over his body. I believe this part of Gordimer's story is meant to serve as a warning. The majority of children's stories have a happy ending, with the hero emerging unscathed. This leads children to believe that all their adventures will be successful and that the world is a happy place without any conflicts that cannot be resolved. The story “Once Upon a Time” is a warning to the community not only about the nature of the story. to children about major conflicts, but also to the South African public that the state conflict is not getting better and should not be expected to go away because it is not a fairy tale, this is reality and we have to do something about it and she communicates a lot of that through irony. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a personalized essay