The Veldt, By Ray Bradbury

Technological advances have been on the rise ever since the 21st century started. It’s completely normal now for kids to be called to dinner by their parents with a text message. Ray Bradbury’s short story, “The Veldt” suggests that in the aspect of parenting the story expresses the need of face to face interaction instead of parents constantly relying on technology as a leisure activity.

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.

At this point, the nursery has driven a huge wedge between father and son, wrecking their relationship forever. George has turned off the nursery, and doesn’t care if the children are upset or not. He thinks it’s for the good of the family. Although Wendy and Peter were portrayed as urchins, it was all caused by neglect from their

In today's culture people use technology to their advantage all the time. They use it to hack, to learn the latest gossip, or to see breaking news around the world. But, sometimes they get obsessed and instead of a handy tool, it becomes a necessity and a lifestyle. In the story, The Veldt, Ray Bradbury uses imagery, symbolism, and internal conflict to express that misuse of technology can lead to unforeseen disadvantages.

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.

In today's culture, people use technology to their advantage all the time. They use it to hack, to learn the latest gossip, or to see breaking news around the world. But, occasionally they get captivated and instead of an accessible apparatus, it becomes a necessity and a lifestyle. In the story, The Veldt, Ray Bradbury uses imagery, symbolism, and internal conflict to express that misuse of technology can lead to unforeseen disadvantages.

Bradbury uses spoiling Wendy and Peter to show they weren’t well-rounded, by emphasizing that they were over-indulged in materialistic wants. When parents Lydia and George were talking, Lydia explained, “They’re insufferable- let’s admit it. They come and go when they like; they treat us as if we were offspring. They’re spoiled and we’re spoiled.” The description of how the parents feel provides the reader with a better understanding that even the parents can no longer control Wendy and Peter’s disrespectful ways caused by their mistakes of spoiling the children. Bradbury establishes the kids as so over-indulged that even Lydia and George could not discipline the children if they put their minds to it. Towards the end of the story we see that not being able to

“People need quality information, the leisure to digest it, and the freedom to act on what has been learned.”(Bradbury 85) When these aspects are removed from a society, human beings lose every right to freedom and individualism. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 and the short story Harrison Bergeron, this proves to be more than true. These pieces of literature each display similar values of society, technological advancements, rebellious acts, and a human desire for fulfillment of equality.

In the real world, the parents are supposed to take care of their kids, but, the house is doing their job instead “You’ve let this room and this house replace you and your wife in your children’s affections”-P.6 “That sounds dreadful! Would i have to tie my own shoes instead of letting my shoe tier do it? And brush my own teeth and comb my hair and give myself a bath?”-P.5 This quote is the proof that the children are depending on the house to do everything for them. In a normal family, the children are supposed to be loving and thankful towards their parents, but george’s family didn’t have that love.

George and Lydia will decide to call a psychologist. The psychologist David McClean will suggest them to turn off the room and the house, and leave. But before turning off the nursery the children asked their pa rents for one last nursery visit. After a few minutes the kids will call George and Lydia and when they will enter in the nursery to see what was happening the children will lock them in. It seems quite clear that the children are more connected to the house than they are their own parents. At this moment we understand that besides the African setting, George and Lydia find personal recreations of their belongings in the nursery.

Ray Bradbury writes Fahrenheit 451 during a time free thinking seems to be slowly disappearing thanks to the advances in technology such as television and the radio. These advances are becoming the principal vehicle to exercise the imagination, once entertained by the knowledge provided by books. As a child Bradbury learnt about the burning of the library of Alexandria thousands of years ago. He was fifteen years old, and Hitler was burning books in the streets of Berlin. These events from the past and the present inflict sadness to Bradbury, a man who loves books, a man that learns everything with books and libraries. Bradbury is aware that if events like these can happen in Alexandria and Berlin, is just a matter of time to see another library burning, another street with a pile of knowledge burning. Heroes, philosophers, adventurers consumed by the flames at 451 degrees. Bradbury uses an array of symbols in Fahrenheit 451, which together conveys an amalgam of emotions. These emotions are strictly connected to the plot in the story, the dangers that humanity faces if a totalitarian government takes all sources of knowledge away, and free thinkers are persecuted, exterminated.

1, Bradbury) and then the conversation keeps going until Lydia says again “I just want you to look at it, is all, or call a psychologist in to look at it” (pg. 1, Bradbury) and then George goes “What would a psychologist want with a nursery” (pg.1, Bradbury) and then Lydia “You know very well what he’d want” (pg.1, Bradbury). This conversation here shows that this nursery is more than just a normal room in the house because if it were why would a psychologist be needed for it. A nursery is a room for the kids so that must mean something in that room must be so disturbing that a psychologist is needed to check it out and probably make sure that the kids are ok and normal. George, at this point and forward, finds out that the kids have become too addicted to the technology and especially that room and have also become violent. At first he doesn’t take it as seriously but does after it’s too

This is concept of not wanting to grow up is proved throughout the play multiple times. For instance, he talks with Wendy explaining that he ran away from home saying, “I want always to be a little boy and to have fun” (Barrie 15). At the end of the play Peter is terrified to even pretend to be the boy’s father. He says, “It is only pretend, isn’t is, that I am their father?” (Barrie 43). Then in the lines proceeding he still was questioning Wendy to make sure his role was just pretending because he does not want any characteristics or responsibilities a grown person has. Wendy, on-the-other hand, was not afraid to take on the motherly role of the children. She awakes in the house and the boys ask her to take on the mother role and she replies, “Very well then, I will do my best” (Barrie 32). The concepts of the play follow the relation that exists between children and adults where their worlds are exclusive mutually as they complement each other (Barrie and Alton 7). There exists a higher association between Wendy and adulthood which helps show her transformation.  This proves Barrie’s play was created to showcase the bond between children as well as adults. This transformation for Wendy is interesting because she took on a mother role in a child-fantasy land that is supposed to be free of responsibility.

Barrie expresses the core of his argument through the actions of the children and Peter himself. Throughout the play, the reader observes many instances of the children playing "grown-up." When Peter first brings Wendy to Never Land, we see Slightly, one of the Lost Boys, playing doctor (69-70). This shows a fundamental need to grow up and find your purpose or profession. In many of the different acts the reader also sees the children pretending to have a family. The best example of this is in pages 98-118. The Lost Boys and Wendy's creation of a family reflects not only the children's need for a family, but their need to grow up and create families of their own. In this scene, one of the Lost Boys, Michael, states his wish to grow up when he says "Wendy, I am too big for a cradle" (101). Even Peter, who claims he wants to "always be a little boy and to have fun" reveals that he once wanted to return to reality as well (113). On page 110, Peter says that after some time in