Skip to main content

In "Once Upon a Time," do the husband and the wife cause their own tragedy?

Looking at the story, it is difficult to argue that the husband and wife were not at least partially responsible for the death of their son. Their fear of "people of another color" leads them to put up outlandish and ineffective security measures; unaware of the lethal nature of some of the measures after a childhood surrounded by them, the son decides to play a game within the vicious teeth of the wire coil. And yet it is obviously not by design that the son dies, and so the question still remains: is it their fault?


To decide whether the husband and wife caused their own downfall, let's take a look at the foreshadowing in the story to see where the author intended for the blame to be placed.


The first element of foreshadowing is present on the sign that the homeowners association provides for the gate: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. The reader is meant to see these words and recognize that the family has begun to walk an unwise path. It is a rather odd phrase to put on a sign, after all, and therefore it makes sense that it must serve another purpose during the story.


Later, it is revealed that the son regards the security measures as toys:



The little boy was fascinated by the device and used it as a walkie-talkie in cops and robbers play with his small friends.



Playing with an intercom is not a worrisome act in itself, but it shows that the son is too comfortable with the security measures. He does not see them as precautions but rather as toys. He is only a child and cannot be blamed for such things, but the practice does not appear to be discouraged.


The next bit of foreshadowing occurs in conjunction with the installation of the wire coil: the security company who installs it is called DRAGON'S TEETH, a name that brings the reader back to the theme of fairy tales.


Finally, the "wise old witch," the husband's mother, brings the family gifts in the form of bricks for the wall and a book of fairy tales for the boy. The “wise old witch” is a reflection of the South African government, which promoted racially-based hatred and irrational hysteria; that she provides both the inciting action and the means of the downfall places a fair proportion of the blame not only on the character in the story but on the government in Gordimer’s allegory.


So whose fault is it, in the end? It is accurate to say that the man and wife caused their own downfall, having fallen victim to hysteria and installed the lethal fence, but to say that they alone caused their son’s death is to place too much importance on them. The “wise old witch” is just as much a contributing factor, and ultimately the various causes are inseparable: fear begets fear and hatred begets hatred until atrocity occurs.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more