Technology In Ray Bradbury's Short Story 'The Veldt'

​In The Veldt, Ray Bradbury exhibits the literary device of contrasting symbolism of the nursery to develop a theme of technology changing lives in a negative aspect. To begin, during the beginning of the story when the nursery is described, it’s described as, “The nursery was silent. It was empty as a jungle glade at hot high noon… Now the hidden odorophonics were beginning to blow a wind of odor at the two people in the middle of the baked veltland… And now the sounds: the thump of distant antelope feet on grassy sod, the papery rustling of vultures” (Bradbury). People associate nursery’s with babies and place a positive connotation of a nursery, however in The Veldt; Bradbury adds the negative symbol of the nursery as a veldt full of bloodthirsty lions and scavenging vultures that people normally do not associate with nursery’s. This nursery also symbolizes the kids beginning to lose grip with family and going from a family oriented life, represented by the nursery, to a more violent and animalistic life, represented by the veldt. The symbol of the nursery also signifies the parents beginning to lose their children and it displays how before the nursery was introduced everything was normal and peaceful but the nursery adds suspense and displays how the technology affected them. In

The story show some key information of the children's obviously being addicted to the actual nursery itself and leading to the parents becoming extremely aggravated of what’s happening. An example of this is when the father was to aggravated of this happening to the point of losing his cool to the point of shouting, “And the whole damn house dies as of here and now…We’ve been contemplating our mechanical, electronic navels for too long. My God, how we need a breath of honest air” (Bradbury 12). It illustrates how the father’s rage against technology by the words he used to describe the use of technology it’s. The choice of words would also showing his supreme hatred against technology by going to the point of swearing. This basically illustrated a message into the reader’s head about how annoyed the father has been towards the nursery it’s self. And he was also doing this same feeling before, making him ask nicely about if they could, “…Intersperse this Africa with a little variety-oh, Sweden perhaps, or Denmark or China-”(Bradbury 9). It shows the fact that the parents are thinking about how technology is plaguing the family extremely. This can conclude that the tools of characters feeling and actions being used by Ray Bradbury because of the whole book has a lot of parts of the father clearly hating the use of the nursery by the

George and Lydia feel unnecessary in the house because the house does everything for them. Lydia says, she feels like she does not belong there. The house is wife and mother now, and nursemaid. Can she give a bath and scrub the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic scrub bath can? She cannot. Technology has made her feel useless. The two children, Peter and Wendy, are two perfect example of how technology can negatively affect children. They spend countless hours inside the nursery and barely any time with their parents. They are pretty much devastated when George said that he is going to shut down the house. The children do not know what life is like without the house to do everything for them. Peter even says, “Would I have to tie my own shoes instead of letting the shoe tier do it? And brush my own teeth, and comb my hair, and give myself a bath? (Bradbury)”. This child does not even know how to comb his own hair because he has had a mechanical house do it for him his entire life. Through the use of advanced technology, Bradbury expresses his theme when he discloses the uselessness of the mother, and the helplessness of the children.

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.

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

Peter and Wendy are the children of George and Lydia Hadley. They obey technology more than their parents. They spend more time with technology than their own parents. The also kill their own parents which shows such a little to no respect for them. Unlike normal families, the family fears the children. The parents suffer “horrible tantrums that makes he and

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.

The Veldt by Ray Bradbury depict the effects of technology as dangerous to the children and to the society by making it seem like “The Veldt’ presents technology as something that makes life easy maybe too easy. In fact, technology makes life so easy that it's not even really living any more, according to George. Most of the technology in "The Veldt" seems to ruin the perfectly fine way of life that existed before. So, the kids aren't reading anymore or even going out to play; instead, they're just playing with the newest cool gadget, the nursery. But despite all the cool tech, it's clear that in "The Veldt," the more technology you have, the more dissatisfaction you have, because you start ignoring your family and start

Michael J. Fox once said, “Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.” (Michael J Fox) However, in Fahrenheit 451 and “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury this idea is aggressively rejected. The characters in Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, live in a society where technology negatively impacts their family and relationships with each other. Similarly, the characters in Bradbury’s short story, “The Veldt” are captivated by technology which has a huge toll on their family and relationships. Fahrenheit 451 and “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury discusses the negative impact technology has on family and relationships through the use of symbolism, imagery and character development in both stories.

Bradbury portrays the children as characters who are inconsiderate of others and take advantage of their parent’s affection to obtain anything they want. After living in the technological house for a period of time, Lydia Hadley discovers that her position of being a mother is beginning to disappear since

We rely on technology nowadays to do simple tasks for us like dry our hair, research answers on the web, and watch television for entertainment and for the news. Technology is being over used for very simple things, what if we relied on them too much as a whole for us to forget doing simple task? Would it be helpful to us that we rely on technology to do everything for us? In the story "The Veldt", the author Ray Bradbury communicates that the misuse of technology can lead to unforeseen disadvantages, he demonstrates the theme through his uses of imagery and symbolism.

“Three very interesting stories indeed,” I said to the rest of the class, another student commented “So all of the stories show a technology caused dystopia in different ways. “TWCSR” shows how humanity can be driven crazy and power hungry enough by technology to kill each other and only leave a frail house that gets destroyed anyway, “The Veldt” shows how technology can control everyday life enough to make humans less human to the point of psychotic murderous thoughts in children for the smallest of reasons, technology providing the successful murder, and last but not least “The Pedestrian” which states that people are brainwashed by technology most likely placed by the government, to keep the masses controlled in an unhealthy way.” “I’d say that about covers all of it” The teacher commented happily. The stories “TWCSR” “The Veldt” and “The Pedestrian” all show through skillful foreshadowing and symbolism.

“All kinds of creative possibilities are made possible by science and technology which now constitute the slave of man, if man is not enslaved by it” as quoted by Jonas Salk during a speech about the technological advances in modern medicine in the 1950s. In the short stories by Ray Bradbury, he illustrates how the characters are struggling to live with the futuristic capabilities of technology. “The Pedestrian” focuses on a man named Leonard Mead who is the only person in society who does not use the technology in his home, his hobby is to walk. However, he is viewed as an outcast. “The Veldt” focuses on how George and Lydia Hadley figure out how their children’s nursery is powered by their mind and how they use it to have a tragic advantage over their parents in the end. While technology can let people connect to others much more efficiently, Ray Bradbury shows how the characters in his short stories “The Pedestrian” and “The Veldt” prove how technology is capable of isolating people from reality.

Furthermore, Bradbury develops the theme technology affects quality of familial relationships through the use of conflict between the parents and children. A conflict develops over the use of the Happylife Home’s nursery, which allows them to reenact any event they think of to the ultimate visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and kinesthetic precision. Peter and Wendy want the machines to remain “alive” while

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.