Blog 2-Once Upon A Time

    The most notable rhetorical device/strategy that I noticed in the short story, Once Upon A Time, by Nadine Gordimer, was the author's use of foreshadowing. The plaque, "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED,"(Gordimer,233), which the family kept hanging on the house to keep out intruders, has some significance in the end of the story. The phrase, should not only have been advice for strangers, burglars, and passersby, but also the family themselves. The tragedy which befalls the couple's son is ironic at the same time which the event is foreshadowed. By making such an effort to continue to safe guard their house, and by eventually moving into a home which was more like a prison or dungeon, they brought it upon themselves that such misfortune should happen. A concentration camp style house is no place to raise a curious and playful child who might wind up hurting himself in a house that has dangers. By trying to provide protection, the family just got their son hurt because he got stuck in the coiled tunnel of the house. The family should have paid heed to their own sign to be cautious and raise their child in the best environment possible. The family had been warned. Had they taken the phrase to heart themselves, the son wouldn't have landed into such harm. Finally, the family that had such perfect lives shouldn't have searched for a house that they thought was potentially more safe because they just gave up their happy home and life just to have tragedy occur in a more pitiful home.