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

2. What is it said the house and swimming pool and car could not be insured against?

3. Where were the riots said to be in the tale the narrator tells herself?

4. What pets does the family in the narrator's story have at home?

5. What reason does the narrator give for the casual laborer murdering an old widower?

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. 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?

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

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

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

6. 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)?

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

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

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

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

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

Discuss elements of the narrative structure; Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the themes?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing Gordimer's commentary on race and class in “Once Upon a Time.” How is race and class important to the story? How does it affect the narrative? Use textual evidence to explain your analysis.

(see the answer keys)

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