Family Unit- Blog 2

I was very disturbed when reading Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer because of the ending of the story. The author of the story is very bothered by not being safe and lives in constant fear, which is what creates the characters in this "children's book." I do not understand why a person would make a children's book such a scary story though. Usually children read this before bed, and reading about a kid being hurt by such a horrible fence would not bring about good dreams. Another disturbance was the fact that the characters in the story lived happily ever after but they lived in constant fear of being killed or robbed. Living happily ever after usually doesn't involve having to worry about being killed or being robbed. I also found it weird that they called the grandmother, the "witch." I guess it is because if it weren't for her idea of putting up all the security and have given the book to the boy, the boy would have never been hurt. I also felt like the story was trying to degrade people who were not rich, because only people with money can afford these fences and "perfect lawns," [Perrine, 235]. It was an all around disturbing story to read and it did not appeal to me.