Nadine Gordimer

The basic irony presented in "Once Upon a Time" is that the author herself does not believe in having to write a fairly tale. Gordimer opens her story with a statement against having to write a...

Nadine Gordimer’s story “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” conveys multiple dimensions of the complex relationships among race and class in South Africa. The emotional connections between parents...

The main character, Van der Vyver, describes the rifle he has inherited from his father. Guns are usually symbolic of violence and often foreshadow death. Indeed, it is a common movie trope that if...

Nadine Gordimer's short story, "Crimes of Conscience" touches upon the themes of Political Transition, and Love. In this story, the male character from whose perspective the story is told, although...

Once instance of stereotyping in Nadine Gordimer's "Happy Event" occurs when, to placate her two quarreling Black servants, Ella gives them each a cheap item, as if they are children. In fact, she...

Situational irony occurs when events happen that are the opposite of what we might expect. The main irony in the story turns on the inversion of most people's innate sense of justice: normally, we...

One way that the short story is similar to a fairy tale is in its title. "Once upon a time" is a very popular and familiar refrain in fairy tales. Another way it is similar to the fairy tale is...

In Nadine Gordimer's "Happy Event," Ella has limited views formed through her prejudice and misunderstanding of Black South Africans. When Ella chooses servants, she assumes Africans from the same...

One ethical implication which is constructed through the conflict in "Africa Emergent" is that oppression is upheld by generating mistrust between people. As the narrator opens his story, he...

In Gordimer's short story, strict chronology of events is important because it shows the levels to which the family becomes more and more obsessed with their safety and security. Each step towards...

Whether or not the version of the story that Van der Vyver tells is accurate—and we have hints that it is not—Gordimer's story critiques apartheid. Gordimer does this by telling the story through...

I am pretty familiar with several of Nadine Gordimer's collections, and thought I could find this short story for you fairly easily; however, I could not find it listed in the collections that I...

Gordimer has been the victim of censorship because her subject matter demands the challenge of government and social structures. Her writing reflects the need for artists to be social commentators...