Once Upon A Time- Irony

In the story Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer, irony is a literary device used. Throughout the course of the short story, irony is used the most out of the literary devices, in my opinion. The most dramatic irony that takes place involves the security of the house. The family originally made the intricate security system in order to keep their family safe. "You are right, said the wife, then the wall should be higher. And the wise old witch, the husband's mother, paid for the extra bricks as a Christmas present to her son and his wife" (Gordimer, 234). The irony comes into play at the end of the story when the son is killed. "The man and his wife burst wildly into the garden and for some reason the alarm set up wailing against the screams while the bleeding mass of the little boy was hacked out of the security coil..." (Gordimer, 236). The irony of the story is that the fence that was made to protect their family, mostly their son, but instead, ended up causes the sons death. Because of the barb wired parts of the fence, the son ended up being cut into pieces and he had to be torn out of the security coil.