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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 does the man tell his wife to ease her fears the people from the city will come to their house in the suburbs?

2. What reason does the narrator give for the casual laborer murdering an old widower?

3. What did the old widower who was murdered have to protect him?

4. What does the wife worry the people from the city might come to their home and do some day?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does the story the narrator tells herself take palce and who is in the story?

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

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

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

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

6. How does the husband try to assuage his wife's fears when she worries people from the cities will tear off their warning sign and "open the gates and stream in" (26).

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

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

9. Describe the sign the man and woman received from the Neighborhood watch. How was it supposed to "prove the property owner was no racist" (25)?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look at the structure of the story. How does the author use character and dialogue to drive the narrative?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the symbolic significance of the narrator's house in "Once Upon a Time." What themes does the house represent?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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