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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 is the narrator's house built atop?

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

4. Why did the neighborhood alarms often go unanswered after many had them installed?

5. According to the narrator's tale, who were being shot by the police in the city?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does the story the narrator tells herself take palce and who is in the story?

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

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

4. 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?

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

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

10. 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)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing Gordimer's decision to utilize the frame story of the narrator's bedtime tale in "Once Upon a Time." How does this impact the reader's understanding of the story's events? Is this effective? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Pick a character from the story and discuss their goals and motives. Do they achieve their motive? Do they share similar goals and motives with other characters? Do their goals clash with other characters? How do the characters' goals and motives affect their interaction with each other?

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.

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