View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is described as the "low-cost option" neighbors used to secure their homes?

2. How do the intruders get past the iron bars in the suburban homes?

3. At the end of the story, what is the coil tunnel said to be "just wide enough for" (30)?

4. In addition to taken items from homes, what did the suburban intruders do in the homes?

5. What did the woman have the housemaid do to the people from the city who hung about looking for work?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the wife do for the people who hung around looking for work outside their home? What did the housemaid think of them?

2. What were intruders able to do even while the alarms wailed in the suburbs, and what did they take?

3. Who helps remove the little boy at the end of the story? How do they do it?

4. What did the son pretend to be the day after his mother read him a fairy tale from the book the Wise Old Witch gave him?

5. Rather than noting lovely roses and gardens, what did the man and woman begin to admire during their neighborhood walks with their son and dog?

6. Despite thinking it the ugliest, what option did the man and woman choose to enhance security after building a higher wall?

7. What did the unemployed begin doing in the suburbs?

8. Describe the various security options the man and woman noticed during their neighborhood walk.

9. How did the son end up getting entangled in the new security fence at the end of the story?

10. After building a higher wall, what did the man and woman notice the cat doing one night while discussing the latest robberies?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay describing the imagery used in “Once Upon a Time.” Indicate examples of imagery in the text and identify possible meanings.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 754 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample