“There Was Once” is a very short story by Margaret Atwood from her 1992 collection Good Bones. In it, someone tries to tell a story while the listener objects to numerous details. This story is very brief, so I suggest also reading the actual text. If you need a refresher, though, here’s a summary of “There Was Once.”
“There Was Once” Summary
Speaker #1 tries to tell a story while speaker #2 raises objections.
#1 begins the story: There was once a poor, beautiful and good girl who lived with her wicked stepmother in a house in the forest.
#2 doesn’t like the forest setting, preferring something more modern. She’s also not really poor if she lived in a house, even if the money wasn’t hers. It would also be better if she were more average, not beautiful, because women are bombarded with images of an unrealistic physical standard. In fact, describing her at all could be construed as making fun, except for her skin color, which shouldn’t be white.
#1 amends the story: There was once a girl of unknown descent, average-looking and good, who lived with her wicked stepmother. # 2 takes exception to good and wicked.
#1 tries again: The girl is average and well-adjusted, while the stepmother isn’t loving due to her own past abuse. # 2 thinks there have been two many negative female images. Stepmother should be changed to stepfather; middle-aged men are twisted and repressed.
#1 objects that he’s a middle-aged man, but #2’s argument is with the girl in the story, not him. It’s not his business.
#1 tries to start again but doesn’t get far. The protagonist is old enough for the story to end in marriage, so girl should be changed to woman. Was once is in the dead past, so it should be set in the present. Finally, there is changed to here.
I hope this summary of “There Was Once” by Margaret Atwood was helpful.
