Nadine Gordimer meshes numerous cases of portending into "Quite a long time ago." The casing story presents the idea of dread. The possibility of the underground mining burrows that stone the storyteller's home—dull, imperceptible, and enigmatic—hint the ethnic turmoil that stones the social texture of the rural group in the sleep time story.
Nadine Gordimer weaves many examples of foreshadowing into "Once Upon a Time." The frame story introduces the concept of fear. The idea of the subterranean mining tunnels that rock the narrator's house—dark, invisible, and cryptic—foreshadow the ethnic unrest that rocks the social fabric of the suburban community in the bedtime story.
it is the title of a song. The song is about a war and how even the smartest of people refuse to fight. therefore they are fighting against the power (power being war)
