In the short story "Once Upon a Time" by Nadine Gordimer, the first thing that we notice and take into account is "the sound". Now, after finishing the story, I realize that I was very hung up on the beginning. It was more than just a sound; it was a symbol, and it held incredible significance through the entirety of the novel.
There are two possibilities given for the cause of the sound. A figment of the imagination, or as Gordimer writes, "...a voice in the echo-chamber of the subconscious?" (Gordimer) is the first option. Then, the person elaborates on the fact that it might be a person. It is this very assumption that sets the tone for the rest of the story. Now that he has fixated on this possibility, he cannot get it out of his mind, therefore, causing him to make up this gruesome scenario. In this children's story that he thinks to himself, while starting out completely normal with the "ideal" family in mind, things quickly get out of hand with the constant obsession with having someone break into their home. In the end, we have a situation that shows that obsessing over something like that only leads to more trouble. It is ironic, and yet, from the very beginning, anyone could have predicted that it would not end well for at least one person, if not more.
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