Analysis of Nadine Gordimer's Once Upon a Time.

Authors Avatar by kjbond8 (student)

                 

Once Upon a Literary Element (Or several):

Fictional Aspects of “Once Upon a Time”

        Although some critics may believe in a more clear-cut distinction between literary and commercial fiction, there does exist a sort of gray area in between the two categories of fiction.  “Once Upon a Time” exhibits qualities of both genres.  However, if this short story were categorized into a definitive class, it would fall primarily into the realm of literary fiction.  Most of the elements of “Once Upon a Time” are literary, and therefore, the story as a whole falls into this category.

        “Once Upon a Time” employs many literary elements, since an analysis of the plot clearly shows components clearly not pertaining to commercialism.  Essentially, a writer has trouble falling asleep, and dreams of another story. In this inner tale, a group of poor, impoverished people surround a family and their affluent neighborhood, and the family decides to implement security devices around the house, essentially creating a fortress.  In the end, the security measures end up killing the child of the family. The plot as a whole does not align itself with a piece of commercial fiction.  Commercial writers employ more dramatic, adventurous, and exciting plotlines.  However, the text does not present any of these elements of the plot.  Commercial fiction usually has a “happy ending,” where the characters overcome the hardships and achieve the goal they originally set out to do.  However, the exact opposite occurs in “Once Upon a Time.”  At the end of the story, the little boy is mangled in the metal mesh and presumably dies (Gordimer 225).  The reader walks away from the end of the story more perceptive, not satisfied and entertained as they might be in commercial fiction.

Join now!

The commercial style of fiction usually displays one or more central protagonists with whom the reader can relate; however, this story presents no such character(s).  All of the people in “Once Upon a Time” remain nameless, and for the most part, the text provides very little detail as to the personalities and traits of the characters.  Even in the beginning, the author of the story is very cryptic about himself.  With such mysterious and ambiguous characters without names, readers struggle to connect with the characters.  By making characterization essentially nonexistent, the text forces readers to look past characters to other ...

This is a preview of the whole essay