When Nadine Gordimer wrote "Once upon a Time" in 1989, her home country, South Africa, was in the last-gasp throes of apartheid, a legal and political system of forced segregation that deprived people of color of their rights and made white people the elites of society. Apartheid began in 1948 when the Nationalist Party rose to power and lasted until 1991, when the laws were finally struck down. "Once upon a Time" reflects the social unrest roiling Gordimer's country at the time, and she obviously speaks out against apartheid in this story.

Beyond that specific political context, however, the story raises the sociological issues of prejudice and fear of "the other." Suburban white people and their household employees allow fear to cause them to retreat into deeper and deeper isolation. As they do so, their lives become more and more stunted. They end up living in a prison of their own making where their son ends up being sacrificed on the altar of their fears. The alternative is briefly hinted at when the wife wants to reach out with compassion to the unemployed "loafers" outside her gate. Showing compassion toward, feeling the pain of, and interfacing with the "other" group is essential to resolving the problems of fear, prejudice, and injustice. Fear brings more fear, but rapprochement can resolve fear and move individuals and societies toward a true state of living "happily ever after."