Once Upon A Time Nadine Gordimer 1991 Apartheid

“Once Upon A Time” Nadine Gordimer 1991

Apartheid • A system of legal racial segregation enforced by the government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were reduced and minority rule by white people was maintained.

Apartheid • Legislation classified inhabitants into racial groups – Black – White – Colored – Indian • TOWNSHIPS: residential areas were segregated, sometimes by means of forced removals. • The government segregated education, medical care, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of white people.

Nadine Gordimer • Gordimer's early interest in racial and economic inequality in South Africa was shaped in part by her parents. • Her father's experience as a Jewish refugee in czarist Russia helped form Gordimer's political identity, but he was neither an activist nor particularly sympathetic toward the experiences of black people under apartheid. • Conversely, Gordimer saw activism by her mother, who showed concern about the poverty and discrimination faced by black people in South Africa.

Ms. Gordimer with Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, in Johannesburg in 2005. Credit Radu Sigheti/Reuters

Gordimer, Cont’d • During the 1960 s and 1970 s, she continued to live in Johannesberg, although she occasionally left for short periods of time to teach at several universities in the USA. • Nobel Prize: 1991 • She had begun to achieve international literary recognition, and continued to demand through both her writing and her activism that South Africa re-examine and replace its long held policy of apartheid.

Activate Prior Knowledge • List all the fairy tales you can think of. • Do you have a favorite fairy tale? What is it? • What elements are common to all fairy tales? – Consider: • • Types of characters Settings (time, place) Conflicts Other?

Common Elements of Fairy Tales • Do NOT need to include fairies. • Set in the past—usually significantly long ago. May be presented as historical fact from the past. • Include fantasy, supernatural or make-believe aspects. • Typically incorporate clearly defined good characters and evil characters. • Involves magic elements, which may be magical people, animals, or objects. Magic may be positive or negative. • May include objects, people, or events in threes. • Focus the plot on a problem or conflict that needs to be solved. • Often have happy endings, based on the resolution of the conflict or problem. • Usually teach a lesson or demonstrate values important to the culture.

Synthesize • What connections between themes and motifs in “The Help” and “Once Upon A Time” can be made?

Analysis Questions • Find two examples in the story when the author foreshadows its resolution. • Analyze why Gordimer presents elements of fairy tales in “Once Upon A Time. ” • Analyze two quotes from the short story that allude to the practice of the system apartheid. • Summarize the literal and allegorical meaning of this story. • How and why does Gordimer use archetypes in this story?

Analysis Questions • How are each of the characters presented by Gordimer? • What are the major motifs Gordimer uses in the short story?