Essay on The Veldt Short Story Analysis

Ray Bradbury written a story about how technology made a perfectly normal family into a completely corrupted family which is called, The Veldt. The Veldt is a science fictional story featuring a nursery that change the appearance in the inside. The family in the house had two kids named Wendy and Peter who were abusing the nursery to the point of having Africa as the basis of the nursery’s appearance. This was until the mother and father of the kids, Lydia and George Hadley tried to stop this from actually happening and the children locked the parents into the nursery to only die after that. The theme of The Veldt is that relying on technology can destroy personal relationships. The tools that are being used is the characters feelings and actions,

“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury deals with some of the same fundamental problems that we are now encountering in this modern day and age, such as the breakdown of family relationships due to technology. Ray Bradbury is an American writer who lived from 1920 to 2012 (Paradowski). Written in 1950, “The Veldt” is even more relevant to today than it was then. The fundamental issue, as Marcelene Cox said, “Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves.” Technology creating dysfunctional families is an ever increasing problem. In the story, the Hadley family lives in a house that is entirely composed of machines. A major

Through the use of foreshadowing, Bradbury emphasizes how the world is becoming dependent and controlled by technology. “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow

After turning all the devices off, George sees the house as “full of dead bodies” (Bradbury 9), moreover, he constantly refers to it by saying “to kill”, “to die” and other verbs that can refer to something alive (Bradbury ? ? ?). He even asks, “I wonder if it hates me for wanting to switch it off” (Bradbury 8) thus confirming that, despite his words about nursery's artificiality, he considers it a living creature, something that constitutes danger. Peter, protesting from switching the house off, also address the house asking not to “let Father kill everything” (Bradbury 9). Technology becomes the essential part of the family's life, and they cannot separate it from another family member. It influences them so much that they animate it in their thoughts giving it power over their lives. However, it is not implied in the story that the technology is the one and only cause of the things going on. Definitely, Hadleys are responsible for everything as the parents do not pay enough attention to their children, thus alienating them and set on developing an addiction. The technology is a catalyst, while all the wrong actions are conducted by people themselves.

Another example from, The Veldt, would be when the psychologist saw the nursery and became very concerned about the children's state of mind " 'You've let this room and this house replace you and your wife in your children's affections. This room is their mother and father, far more important in their lives than their real parents.' " When Bradbury included this through the psychologist, because he was trying to get through to the audience that the parents had let technology do their job while they did nothing for so long that in their own children's brains, they don’t see their parents as parents any more. So, that’s why they have a hard time doing what the parents say, because in the children's brains, they are having a battle with themselves over if they should follow their true parents' orders or to disobey. Most of the time, they take the latter.

It is evident in both texts that the characters have become too reliant on technology, later causing negative repercussions. Ray Bradbury used the technique of foreshadowing to show this. In ‘The Veldt’ the family buys a house which performs all basic human process for them, taking away their responsibilities. Within their house there is a room for the children known as the nursery which was created to help them with their mental health. This room can read the minds of those who enter and make what they are thinking appear. The children, Peter and Wendy love the room and spend most of their time in it. The mother Lydia begins to feel as though the nursery is malfunctioning and therefore asks her husband George to have a look at the room. When they enter the room they feel a bad vibe

The nursery is a place where the kids’ imagination can be brought to life through a series of optical illusions and sonics. Usually, Wendy and Peter think about unicorns, fairy tales, or innocent fictional places and creatures. But then when George and Lydia venture into the nursery and nearly get mauled by what’s supposed to be a hologram of a lion, tensions rise between Lydia and George. Lydia wants to shut down the nursery and the house due to her paranoia, while George wants to keep it open because he is almost 100-percent positive that his design is foolproof and no harm would come from it. Later, when the kids come home for dinner, they give off a very eerie vibe; they come in with pinched pink cheeks, bright blue eyes and are holding hands (similar to the horror movie, The Shining). Then the two children act as if they do not even know what Africa is when George brings it up talking about the nursery. Afterward, when Lydia and George are in bed they both have a strange feeling that Wendy changed the nursery - and that Peter completely hacked into the system. When the parents finally break the news to the kids that the nursery and house are getting shut down for a little while, the story takes a dark turn. The kids go into a completel tantrum; begging and pleading to their father to keep

Before technology such as the Happylife Home was integrated into the Hadley’s life, George was in charge of the household and his children were obedient. The question of Hart is, “what has happened to George, once ruler and lord of his household?” (Hart), is technology has taken over his position and the children do whatever they want. They do not care about respecting their parents because technology is so superior compared to them. An example of the disobedience is shown during a conversation between Peter, Wendy, and George; “‘Run see and come tell.’ She obeyed. ‘Wendy, come back here!’ said George Hadley, but she was gone.” (Bradbury). Peter is telling his sister Wendy to come over where he is and she obeys. After that, Wendy’s dad tells her to come outside of the nursery but this time she does not obey. George tries to get his kids to obey him more than the nursery but fails miserably. Her level of respect for her brother is higher than the respect to her father’s. This displays how harmful the nursery is for the children.

As technology continues to develop throughout time, humanity relies more and more on it. Technology surrounds everyone today from the cars people drive, and the phones people are constantly on. Technology is consuming our lives, and Ray Bradbury worries about our future. He portrays this message in his short story “The Veldt.” In this short story, Bradbury creates a family who live in a house with advanced technology. The purpose of the house is to make the families’ lives easier, but the parents soon realize the damage they have done by letting their kids rely on technology as another parent. Ray Bradbury uses personification and foreshadowing in “The Veldt” to show the separation of parents and children because of neglect occurring from the dependence on technology.

Along with the imagery and internal conflict, Bradbury also uses a great deal of symbolism in The Veldt. For instance, the nursery, it is an accommodation where the children can have an extremely creative and bright imagination, but also a very dark and dreary one as well. "You sent your thoughts. Whatever you thought would appear." In the story, the nursery made to represent a television. Television is a great

Bradbury shows that the family lives in a high tech house when he writes, “…this house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them…” (Bradbury 1) which shows the house does almost anything for this family. The point of this house was for the house to do all the work so that the time that the parents would be working they could spend with their children. However, everything changed when the mother said, “Maybe I don’t have enough to do. Maybe I have time to think too much. Why don’t we shut the whole house off for a few days and take a vacation?”(Bradbury 4) which shows that the mother was getting overwhelmed and feeling like she was completely useless. Once the mother feels this way the parents decide to shut down the nursery which causes chaos between them and their children when they say, “They screamed and pranced and threw things. They yelled and sobbed and swore and jumped at the furniture...” (Bradbury 13) which shows that the family has actually been torn apart because of house/veldt.

Here readers can see how Bradbury feared that people might begin to form close relationships with technology, “The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles.”. This shows readers how perhaps Bradbury wanted to prove that just because you love your phone or tablet, that does not automatically mean that the phone or tablet feels the same about you. Finally a final problem Bradbury predicts might happen is visible in "A sound of thunder”. In this story readers can see how Bradbury fears that we, as humans, will not be able to see the possible damage we are causing through our technological advancements. While he illustrated this through time travel, readers can apply the same concept to modern technological advancements that impact society and/or the environment. All in all, Bradbury sees multiple technology based problems that we should be aware of and try our utmost to prevent from becoming a

“...The more I see of the mess we’ve put ourselves in, the more it sickens me. We’ve been contemplating our mechanical, electronic navels for too long. My God, how we need a breath of honest air!” states George. After the blindfold over his eyes has been removed he comes to the realization that how he has spoiling his family has deteriorated their relationship. As the character develops, Ray Bradbury emphasizes that George truly does care about his family which in the end put him into this situation since he wanted the latest and greatest for his family. “He cares more for his family than he does for the convenience the automated house can provide; and therefore, he has no problem turning off the house” (Milne.) Sadly, George is blindsided by his own logic as the true hazard catches him off guard. Due to the fact that he cares for his family he is willing to sacrifice their lives of luxury to undo the self inflicted damage of the nursery. When DAvid McClean comes over he states, “...You’ve let this room and this house replace you and your wife in your children’s affections. This room is their mother and father, far more important in their lives than their real parents.” Being the family’s psychologist David is able to explicate the complications plaquing the family. “He is astute when it comes to recognizing the threat

Technology can be both educational and favorable but, unrestricted, it leads to dangerous consequences. The consequences are even more apparent whenever children are raised with technology and it envelops their life. Eventually, technology raises the children and, in a way, it replaces the children’s own parents. Ray Bradbury’s use of personification and imagery in “The Veldt” help convey the idea that the influence of technology is powerful and controls actions, thoughts, and essentially rewires the brain.

Nevertheless with all great technology there has to be some weighty drawbacks. Human relationships is irreplaceable, but that's exactly what the house is doing to the Hadley’s as Lydia Hadley says “ The house is wife and mother now and nursemaid……..Can I give a bath and scrub the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic scrub bath can” (Bradbury). The children, Peter and Wendy, do not need their mother anymore and it is tearing Lydia apart so much she wants a vacation away from the house that she and her husband bought so they wouldn’t have to do anything. The nursery has crystal walls that play images controlled by the user’s mind. When the parents, George and Lydia, go into the nursery and see Africa everything becomes realistic and they can feel the sun, smell the grass, etc.