View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does the story the narrator tells herself take place?

2. What does someone tell the narrator she should write for an upcoming anthology?

3. What game did the little boy like to play after they installed a speaker at the gates of their home?

4. What begins to happen once the riots in the city are suppressed?

5. Who had recommended the gardener to the man and his wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the man have installed in their house to ease his wife's fears and what does the boy do with them?

2. Describe the sign the man and woman received from the Neighborhood watch. How was it supposed to "prove the property owner was no racist" (25)?

3. At the start of "Once Upon a Time," what does the narrator say someone wrote and asked her to do, and how does she feel about this request?

4. What fears did the man and woman's trusted housemaid begin to have, and what did they do in response to her fears?

5. What were the man and woman unable to insure their house against, and why did the man tell his wife they need not worry about that?

6. After the riots outside the city subsided, what crimes took place in the suburbs?

7. What does the narrator do when she is an able to fall back to sleep at the start of the story?

8. What does the narrator realize is the cause of the creaking she hears in her home at the start of the story?

9. Why is the narrator unable to sleep at the start of the story?

10. What recent crimes does the narrator describe at the start of the story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Gordimer’s focus on themes of fear and protection in "Once Upon a Time."

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay discussing the setting and time period of “Once Upon a Time.” In what ways does the time period and setting impact your understanding of the story as well as the themes?

Essay Topic 3

Write a detailed analysis of tone in Gordimer's “Once Upon a Time.” Include whether the tone changes or remains the same. If it changes, include details on when, why and whether this change is effective.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 770 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample