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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 old widower who was murdered have to protect him?

2. Who lives in the home the narrator describes at the start of her story?

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

4. Who had recommended the gardener to the man and his wife?

5. What did "a certain novelist" say every writer "ought to write at least once" (23)?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What recent crimes does the narrator describe at the start of the story?

6. 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?

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

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

9. At the start of "Once Upon a Time," what does the narrator say someone wrote and asked her to do, and how does she feel about this request?

10. What does the man have installed in their house to ease his wife's fears and what does the boy do with them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 3

Write a detailed analysis of tone in Gordimer's “Once Upon a Time.” Include whether the tone changes or remains the same. If it changes, include details on when, why and whether this change is effective.

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