Nadine Gordimer's Once Upon A Time

Lewis Thomas proposes that the inundation of society with detailed, step-by-step, almost instructional style gruesome books on the subject of death influences the way in which people consider the topic, creating the impression that there is a right way and a wrong way to approach death and a need for instruction on the matter. His technique in addressing the topic of death involves

a very common fear every salve of the time inhibited. By illustrating the tragic life of a young

Lacking a wider variety of stories on any given topic can lead to dangerous misconceptions and casual racism. In her TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story, Ms. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award winning Nigerian novelist and public speaker, uses personal encounters with the effects of a single story to normalize her experiences with her audiences so that they may internalize them and act upon them easier. Ms. Adichie's use of pathos, as well as her comedic tone and understanding of who her audience is makes it significantly easier for her to accomplish the aforementioned goal.

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

“What if contemporary people are less interested in seeing depictions of their unconscious fears and more attracted to allegories of how their day-to-day existence feels?” (Klosterman 1).

Facing Death is a compelling documentary on, oftentimes, the final journey patients and their families will venture through together in life. The documentary seeks to capture how the patients and their families respond to the inevitability of death. The film includes families who respond to the issue by allowing their family member, the patient, to pass through the door of death without aggressive care, while there are yet other families who insist on everything being done to delay the moment of death. This topic of fighting death is attributed with producing much debate. On one hand are those who do not see the point of fighting death, however, on the other hand, there are those who believe that delaying death and staying alive is what ought to be done. Personally, from what I understand of either party, I think that I am a part of the later party. In addition, this issue naturally delves into what one believes occurs after death, as it is an issue dealing directly with death. This also compels me to view this topic from the viewpoint of the later party.

No one can escape death. It’s one of so few unavoidable certainties in our lives and has held an important position in every human culture since time immemorial. Of course, this position has is different from culture to culture, and shifts over time. This is particularly evident in western culture. The shift is discussed at length in two essays: “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” by Jessica Mitford, and ‘The Fear of Dying’ by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Both explore different aspects of these themes – Mitford’s essay being deconstruction of a the uniquely North American process of embalming, and Kübler-Ross’ being an indictment of the clinical depersonalization of contemporary western attitudes toward death. Each utilize many different tools as writers, such as rhetorical modes. Rhetorical modes they share are exemplification, description, and compare-and-contrast.

In Karen Thompson Walker’s presentation she tells a story about men who were stranded in the Pacific Ocean after the Essex ship was struck and sunk by a sperm whale. The sailors had to come to a decision while they were in fear, which would decide their life or death moment. Karen points out that accommodates imagination , and uncertainty . Walker states that our fears can make us ponder about what could happen in the future. She displays ethos by saying fear is made out from our very own imagination, pathos by sharing her own experiences with fear when she was a child, and logos by focusing on the topic of the stranded sailors at sea and how they had to make a decision at a terrifying moment.

From stories of heroism one always learns that facing a problem is what brings prosperity. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Masque of a Red Death” shows the consequences of ignoring one’s challenges. Although the lessons show that facing fear is the honorable thing to do, people still avoid their problems. Many find that it is difficult to face the hard truth of reality and therefore they avoid it at all cost. Ignoring these issues without facing them leads to horrible endings. The characterization of Prince Prospero demonstrates that death is inevitable when running away from life’s challenges.

By biological logic, we human beings will face death sooner or later in our life and death has its very own ways to approach us - a sudden deadly strike, a critical sickness, a tragic accident, a prolonged endurance of brutal treatment, or just an aging biological end. To deal with the prospect of death come different passive or active reactions; some may be scared and anxious to see death, some try to run away from it, and some by their own choice make death come faster. But Viktor Frankl, through his work Man’s Search for Meaning, and Bryan Doyle; in his essay “His Last Game” show us choices to confront the death, bring it to our deepest feelings, meaningful satisfaction. To me, the spirit of the prisoners at deadly concentration camps, Frankl’s Logotherapy theory of “. . . striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” (99), as well as the calmness of Doyle’s brother on his last ride, like an awaken bell, remind us of how precious life is, how we should find the significance in every act of living, determine to live a meaningful life at any circumstances; hence, when death comes, we can accept it without anxiety nor regrets.

In the play “everyman” death is depicted as something that is terribly feared as no one seemed ready for it, death is perceived as something that takes one away from the pleasures of this world.

Men and animals alike began to lose loyalty and the ability to feel emotions and “earth was only one thought”- the thought of death. Faced with the thought of death, no creature on earth fared better than the other. As life was taken from all creatures, the realization of a terrifying end became apparent and “no love was left.”

Even though people have been dying since the start of life, we can never get use to the idea of leaving our loved ones behind. Therefore humans choose to disregard death and get pleasure from life, and consequently we tend to stray away from righteousness. Two works; Everyman by an unknown author, and The Pardoner’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer have been written to preach humans toward Christianity-the right way of living. These authors utilize plot to reveal the role of death in understanding life. This is achieve by drawing on the foolishness of mankind, their response to the inevitable death and the effect of death on protagonists which altogether helps the readers understand worldly treasures are temporary.

In conclusion, the theme of ‘Once Upon A Time’ by Nadine Gordimer is that fear

I was born in a very big house with 5 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 kitchens, big lawns in front and back, servant quarters and couple of servants serving my family. This wasn’t like this because we were filthy rich or millionaires. It simply portrays a middle class home in my country.