Once Upon A Time - Situational Irony

"For when they began to live happily ever after they were warned, by that wise old witch, the husband’s mother, not to take on anyone off the street." - Nadine Gordimer

The family in this story was warned again the dangers of strangers. They head the witch's (mother-in-law's) advice to never take anyone in off the streets. They are scared to death of robbers and other any other bad thing that could happen to their home. Throughout the whole story they add on more and more things; since they have never personally been robbed, I think they are doing this to follow their neighbors. They are somewhat paranoid when it comes to protecting their house. In all of this protection, they get too caught up to realize it could harm their family members. It's to be expected that the "concentration camp" style barbed wire would ultimately keep the family safe; however, their son gets tangled up in the wire and dies. This ends a children's story that is not really a children's story at all. This is a depressing, morbid story written by a stubborn, scared writer.