Once upon a Time

Once upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer

The opening section of this story gives a great foreshadow to the overall theme of the work. The narrator talks of how he is awakened in the middle of the night by creaking sounds throughout his home. He initially supposes that the producer of the noise is some thief, However the real reason for the creaking is from the tremors of the old minds located thousands of feet underneath his home. This is the real reason and it is also a much more significant and realistic reason. This has much to do with the theme of the short story that plays into how people can drive themselves mad worrying about unlikely occurrences and false intuitions rather than normal hazards. The final page of the story helps to further substantiate this theme. Due to many warnings from family friends and because of the "old witch", a reference that is mocking the grandmother for her superstitious proclamations, the family decides to set up a prison-yard like wall with barbed wire to keep out the imaginary burglars. However, instead of their supposed intruders, the razor sharp wire happens to harm their very real son. This goes in line, with the theme of watching out for the real possible scares in life.