Sunday, April 8, 2012

What are three quotes from Nadine Gordimer's "Once Upon a Time" that illustrates fear of those regarded as "other?"

Much of "Once Upon a Time" revolves around fear of those who are different, or "other." Here are three quotes that best illustrate this.



For when they began to live happily ever after they were warned, by that wise old witch, the husband's mother, not to take on anyone off the street. They were inscribed in a medical benefit society, their pet dog was licensed, they were insured against fire, flood damage and theft, and subscribed to the local Neighborhood Watch, which supplied them with a plaque for their gates lettered YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED over the silhouette of a would-be intruder. He was masked; it could not be said if he was black or white, and therefore proved the property owner was no racist.



This passage introduces the beginning of the family's downfall: the husband's mother's advice. Reasonable precautions, such as insurance, did not seem to be enough; one can see here the beginning of the family’s insatiable desire for security. The plaque on the gate also recounts the theme of racism as well as the denial of it: the fact that the intruder is masked appears to be enough, in the family’s mind, to obscure the racial tensions of the divide between the suburb and the outer quarters of the city.



The wife could never see anyone go hungry. She sent the trusted housemaid out with bread and tea, but the trusted housemaid said these were loafers and tsotsis, who would come and tie her and shut her in a cupboard. The husband said, She's right. Take heed of her advice. You only encourage them with your bread and tea. They are looking for their chance ... And he brought the little boy's tricycle from the garden into the house every night, because if the house was surely secure, once locked and with the alarm set, someone might still be able to climb over the wall or the electronically closed gates into the garden.



This further demonstrates how compassion slides in the wake of fear. The wife, who was one of the first to embrace enhanced security measures, attempts to be kind and feed those who are hungry, but she is warned away from helping because it would “encourage” the loafers. The husband and housemaid have at this point succumbed to fear as well.



The whitewashed wall was marked with the cat's comings and goings; and on the street side of the wall there were larger red-earth smudges that could have been made by the kind of broken running shoes, seen on the feet of unemployed loiterers, that had no innocent destination.



One can see here that the loiterers are so untrustworthy that their suspicion pervades even their shoes. The racial tensions are echoed once more in the “whitewashed” wall and the “red-earth smudges” marring it. Suspicion and fear run together in this story; the suspicion justifies the fear and the fear fuels the suspicion, forming a vicious cycle.

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