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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 housemaid say to the woman who hung about the suburbs looking for work?

2. What did the man and woman see outside while they were discussing the latest armed robbery one night?

3. What did the woman have the housemaid do to the people from the city who hung about looking for work?

4. What is said to have happened in one family's home while the family was at dinner?

5. What are some of the things intruders would take from suburban homes?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the various security options the man and woman noticed during their neighborhood walk.

2. Describe what would likely happen should someone attempt to climb the wall with the serrated metal coils installed?

3. What were intruders able to do even while the alarms wailed in the suburbs, and what did they take?

4. What did the son pretend to be the day after his mother read him a fairy tale from the book the Wise Old Witch gave him?

5. Who helps remove the little boy at the end of the story? How do they do it?

6. What did the wife do for the people who hung around looking for work outside their home? What did the housemaid think of them?

7. After the man and woman decided they should build a higher wall, what did the man's mother get them for Christmas? What did she get for their son?

8. What did the unemployed begin doing in the suburbs?

9. How did the son end up getting entangled in the new security fence at the end of the story?

10. What does the wife tell her husband she is worried after installing the serrated metal coils around their wall?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Write an essay analyzing Gordimer's language style and word choice in "Once Upon a Time." What are some words that stand out to you and why? What words are repeated? What words are most impactful? Explain your answers.

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This section contains 783 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample