Nina Hagen Wrtg 1010-20 Using the Genre of a children’s story to articulate with monsters
In Gordimers story “Once upon a time” uses the genre of a children’s story to articulate monsters in a suburban family by using the theme of a fairytale that clashes with the theme of a childrens story so he can use “monsters” in a suburban family. Gordimer uses phrases that kind of gives him the excuse to go in and articulate the monsters into the genre of a children’s story. Gordimer knew how to put everything in place to make it be called a “children’s story” Also, she the setting of the story in a good neighborhood, just people trying to be safe and you could kind of tell reading into the story a little disaster is coming, it is nothing brutal but it works for a children’s story type of theme.
A fairy tale genre always ends up kind of automatically clashing with children’s stories. Gordimer is using a fairytale by saying in “For when they began to live happily ever after they where warned by that wise old witch, the husbands mother, not to take anyone of the street” This sentence right here is kind of what you get out of a fairytale genre and a children’s story genre. When they mention “happily ever after” You usually hear that phrase all the time in childrens stories or children type of things. For example: when you are watching a disney movie, which is a children’s story theme/fairytale theme, you hear them say at the end of every movie with either that very deep or very high voice, or an old lady and they all say the same phrase after everything is done “and they lived happily ever after”
Gordimer was using phrases so he could ease in too articulating monsters with a suburban family by mentioning the title phrase named “Once upon a time” just like “happily ever after” but Once upon a time is at the beginning of usually most kind of children’s stories and also, fairytale stories with it usually starting out as a little back round story so you understand what is going on when you get more into reading the story. When I think of “Once Upon a time” and also for others you think of a princess, and a cute children’s type of story. So, with these kind of phrases it leads up to them articulating with these monsters.
Gordimer uses the setting of the story to kind of expect something to happen by the way the city is built and by the way the city is protected. When Gordimer was mentioning that there were riots going on in the city, but this family was protected by all these guards around there nice city. When he was mentioning that there was a sign that keep saying around there city “YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED” you could tell that something was bound to happen in the story. No matter how safe this neighborhood seemed to be there where still multiple amounts of things going on.
The effects of all of the family’s actions trying to be extra safe and extra cautious basically lead to all of the “good people” in the story dying. They had all these blades coming out so nobody could get in the house then once the kid tried to be a prince, he died and then when they family was trying to save him, they all died. Everything in this story ended up all falling in place.
While Gordimer is articulating monsters in a suburban family he is using some as the good guys for example how the “witch” is the grandmother of the situation. He is clashing the genre of a fairytale with the genre of a children’s story by the type of phrases that he uses to ease into the story with monsters to help it make a story for a child. The setting of the story helps you kind of understand that something is bound to happen that will not be good by the way the house is surrounded, and how the city is surrounded.
References: Gordimer, Nadine “Once Upon A time” For when they began to live happily ever after they were warned by that wise old witch, the husband’s mother, not to take anyone off the street Page 25 New York:Penguin 1991