What is the conflict in "Once Upon a Time"?

There is an explicit and an implied conflict in the story "Once Upon a Time." In the story, the family is extremely wary of outsiders, particularly those of a lower class, so they build up a wall around their house. This conflict between the family and the outsiders who move into their neighborhood is the explicit conflict—they try to prevent this perceived threat from endangering their family.

However, the implied conflict is the conflict between perception and reality. Often times, our perception of a threat is more dangerous than a threat itself, which is clearly outlined in the story. The family builds up a wall with razor wire lining the top of it. Their son wants to go outside of the fence, but he gets tangled up in the razor wire and killed—not by the actions of the supposedly dangerous outsiders, but by the machinations of the family. In trying to protect themselves, they became more dangerous, because they interpreted a threat where none existed.

What is the conflict in "Once Upon a Time"?

In Nadine Gordimer’s story about South Africa under the apartheid system, the first-person narrator provides one key conflict: that of the individual versus themselves. The constant anxiety that she experiences indicates that her troubles are internal; the sounds and the threat she worries about are more imagined than real.

Another conflict is the individual versus society. This woman and other members of her well-to-do white family believe that they are, as members of a particular class and race, superior to and subject to attacks by black South Africans. Despite their own higher status and the elements of privilege that surround them, they experience their position as threatened and insecure. Society, because it contains people different from them, is a frightening, alien entity.

What is the conflict in "Once Upon a Time"?

One conflict you might like to consider in the story is that between the duty towards one's family and to society as a whole. The parents of this small suburban family understandably want to do what's right for themselves and their little boy. But the more they become frightened of the world outside, the more security devices they install, the higher the walls they build, the more they are cutting themselves off from the rest of society.

In due course, this will lead to tragic circumstances for the family. But before then, their actions will also have a damaging impact on innocent people such as the black servants who used to work in the white suburbs but have since been fired after falling under suspicion in the wake of a spate of burglaries in the area. The family in the story, like all their neighbors, have a duty towards these people. But because they are so scared by the neighborhood crime wave, they have effectively abandoned society and retreated into their own private world.

What is the conflict in "Once Upon a Time"?

In "Once Upon a Time," a family is so fearful of outsiders from the underclass that they build a high wall around their house and top it with razor wire to try to feel safe. However, their wall doesn't keep them safe: their son tries to climb the wall, gets tangled in the razor wire, and is killed. The wall hurts the family instead of helping them.

The story's conflict is between the need people have for safety and security and the reality that building walls can't keep us safe. The conflict, therefore, is between the desire to embrace a simplistic, "fairy-tale" solution to the complex problem of dealing with people who are different, and the approach that might lead to real security: doing the hard work of making genuine connections that build trust and rapport between different groups of people.

What is the significance of conflict in "Once Upon a Time"?

Conflict in literature is an element that involves the struggle between two opposing forces, usually between the protagonist and antagonist. This kind of conflict is external. There is also internal conflict. In this situation, the main character or other characters experience opposing emotions or desires. The character suffers mental agony as a result. In both instances, the conflict is resolved when a solution is found.

The conflict depicted in "Once Upon a Time" forms its central theme. It is interesting that although the conflict appears mostly external, it is, as a matter of fact, predominantly internal. The primarily internal nature of the conflict is more than adequately illustrated by the prologue. The author relates a personal experience in this part of her tale. She feels unsafe and is in conflict about whether she should actually be afraid or not. She mentions unfortunate situations which have occurred in her area that give her a reason to feel so insecure.

The conflict is resolved when she discovers that the sounds she hears in her house are caused only by the house shifting slightly. It becomes apparent that what she believes to be external threats to her safety and well-being are actually only her own fears causing her to imagine all sorts of danger and hostility.

This idea is extended in her story about a white South African family living in the suburbs. The parents and grandmother also believe in the existence of numerous kinds of external threats to their safety and well-being. As the story progresses, though, we discover that the family's fears are based, just as much as the narrator's were, on their own insecurities and a misunderstanding of their own environment and the people who dwell there.

The family go to extreme lengths to protect themselves. They install an alarm system and build a high wall around their property. They eventually have razor sharp wire placed at the top of the wall, believing that this will provide them the ultimate protection. Ironically, though, their son is killed when he gets caught in its blades. The parents and grandmother think they can resolve their issue about protection against an outside threat but, sadly and tragically, their solution only creates a bigger problem.

In the end, the parents and grandmother should have resolved their dilemma by finding a solution to their own inner conflict—their fear of the unknown, their own feelings of insecurity, as well as their lack of understanding about the true nature of things. If the family had dealt with these issues, as the narrator did, the tragedy might never have happened. 

What is the significance of conflict in "Once Upon a Time"?

Conflict is vitally important in the Gordimer short story.  The most basic conflict that drives it is the fundamental conflict between individual and society.  The family in the short story are in conflict with the world around them.  Motivated and driven by fear of this entity, the family's desire for security set them in a conflict between themselves and the outside world.  Driven by insinuations that smack of both race and class concerns, the family move into a realm of almost a "slipper slope" in trying to protect themselves from the outside world.  The security system, the gate, the sign, the wall with jagged glass up top, and barbed wire are all physical representations of the conflict that the family has with the outside world.  There is fear in this conflict, fear of the unknown and fear of "the other."  This is where the conflict resides.  There is little in way of positive resolution, as Gordimer's story concludes that little good can happen when individuals are in conflict with the outside world due to fear and mistrust.  When the boy dies, ensnared by the barbed wire, with the alarms sounding as wails of suffering as a result, Gordimer makes it clear that individuals cannot expect good to result out of a conflict driven out of fear between themselves and their social settings.