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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the old widower who was murdered have to protect him?

2. What does the man tell his wife to ease her fears the people from the city will come to their house in the suburbs?

3. What were the Chopi and Tsonga people the narrator says may have made the wooden instrument she describes when discussing her heart beating?

4. What did "a certain novelist" say every writer "ought to write at least once" (23)?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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)?

2. Despite having the same fears of intruders as other people, what precautions does the narrator say she does not take in her home?

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. How does the husband try to assuage his wife's fears when she worries people from the cities will tear off their warning sign and "open the gates and stream in" (26).

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

6. How is the man's mother described and what warning did she give her son and his wife as they start their life together?

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

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

9. What precautions do the man and woman take against theft or natural disasters when they first move in to their home together?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look at the structure of the story. How does the author use character and dialogue to drive the narrative?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay examining security devices as a symbol in “Once Upon a Time.” In what scenes do these devices appear? What is the context? How do these devices develop the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing narrative voice in Gordimer in “Once Upon a Time.” Include thoughts on how the narrative voice of the story is effective in conveying the story’s themes.

(see the answer keys)

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