Once Upon A Time By Nadine Gordimer Analysis

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In Nadine Gordimer’s short story, “Once Upon a Time”, irony is a prominent literary device. Firstly, the little boy dies because of the parents’ extreme safety measures. When the alarm goes off, all they could hear are “the screams while the bleeding mass of the little boy was hacked out of the security coil with saws, wire-cutters, choppers and they carried it”(43). This is an example of situational irony because the devices that are in place to keep them safe and kill intruders are the ones that end up killing their son which is not expected to happen. Secondly, the alarm which is for warning the members of the household of an intruder is ignored when there is an emergency. The alarm rings loudly through the home and, “was often answered-it

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