Not all fairy tales have successful or lively conclusions. The white community in apartheid South Africa ostracizes and completely discriminates against the African community in “Once Upon a Time”. The parents shelter the little boy from the community around him because their minds are concerned with unreasonable stereotypes and judgments. The harsh standards and injustices in their society isolate two cultures and eventually isolate loving parents from their young child. A dynamic of hierarchy characterizes all of South Africa during this apartheid-era. On the other hand, the mother’s search for material happiness in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” increases her emotional distance from all three of her children whom she feels have been thrust upon…show more content… The family automatically assumes the worst when it comes to the indigenous people, limiting the boy’s interactions and opportunity to expand his knowledge of the outside world. Hester constantly voices her passion for material things and money, so Paul’s new outlook on this changing definition of luck clouds his ability to think rationality. Paul appears to be possessed when fiercely riding the wooden horse because he believes the horse will lead him to good fortunes, but he is ultimately concerned with finding his mother’s love. Hester’s efforts to amass a great deal of fortune shatter any hope of a healthy mother-son relationship since Paul goes mad because of his ruthless mother. Both Gordimer and Lawrence employ situational irony to suggest the unfolding of a dark tragedy and demise in their fairy-tale-like stories. The disastrous set of events that occurs takes a toll on both mother’s and forces them to think differently on the way they have been living their lives. The very element that was supposed to protect the family from intruders causes the death of an innocent little