Warner 1
Nicholas Warner
Instructor Grubbs
English 112
26 Feb. 2015
Analytical Paper: The Veldt While many stories arguably have a hidden meaning, Ray Bradbury’s short sci-fi story “The Veldt” is often seen as one of the greatest examples; showing how families are too reliant on technology. The story is about a family who has recently moved into a new, more technologically advanced house with all sorts of mechanical wonders, which the children soon come to put on a pedestal and worship. The children also develop a disturbing reliance on all of the machines that are in their new home. The parents notice the house acting strangely and decide to shut it off, but the children don’t take it very well and it doesn’t end well for the parents. In the story Bradbury has created a utopia, but in the case of Bradbury’s creation, a lot of things go wrong, and the Hadleys’ world is turned on its head. Bradbury’s poetic writing style takes the reader out of the everyday world and into a fantasy world, not unlike a child’s fantasy. The world of “The Veldst” takes children’s fantasy and makes it concrete. Phrases in the story such as “Nothing is too good for our children” and “Every home should have one” (Bradbury, “The Veldt”) bring the reader’s attention to the material worship that dominate many American households.
Warner 2 In this dark and troubling story, Bradbury shows the dangers that are quite possible with the speed and advancement of technology and how important communication between families are during those times. What started as an advantage and a main point of desirability of their home becomes the main source of turmoil. Both parents have a difficult time finding a sense of fulfillment as parents, as they have been replaced by their new home. At multiple points in the story they consider shutting the house down to have a “normal” family. Throughout the story there seems to be a correlation between advancements in technology and a lack of communication in families. The children in the story are manipulative and stubborn and have little to poor communication with their parents. Most of their interactions with their parents are thinly veiled threats or a crying session to get what they want. “The parents have spent so little time with their children they really don't know them and they certainly have no control over them.” (raybradbury.com) While this is a common occurrence throughout America now, the parents in The Veldt are unsure how to handle the situation because they have been replaced as caretakers by their new home. Each of these exchanges ends with the children getting what they want; these negative interactions emphasizing the importance of inter-family communications. Psychology also plays a role in the story as well. It is revealed that the original purpose of the nursery was the study the mind of children, because what they left on the walls would allow a glimpse into the inner workings of their minds. Although the parents are suspicious about the ever present African veldt in the nursery, it is not until a psychologist arrives that they know for

Warner 3 sure something is seriously wrong. He insists the house be shut down immediately and the children start psychological treatment as soon as possible.

According to Ray Bradbury technology has turned human beings into objects of slavery, with the mother in the story, Lydia, saying “They live for the nursery.” (Bradbury, “The Veldt). The technology is the biggest point of desire for the Hadley’s new home, but it ends up being the family’s undoing. By the time George and Lydia have decided the house needs to be shut down they had already lost their children to the nursery, their new artificial mother and father. Although Bradbury’s story is not written with today’s technology in mind, the message is no less prominent. Bradbury builds up the sense that something isn’t right with a variety of techniques. He focuses on the color yellow for the sun and the color of the lions. The hidden "odorophonics" in the nursery let the reader imagine the smell of the fresh meat coming from the mouths of the lions. Vultures cast shadows on the landscape, both literally and metaphorically, a device which is used to great effect both at the start and the end of the story to create its circular structure. These are obviously associated with death, normally of animals, but at the shocking end of the story the deaths are those of George and Lydia. Another interesting technique used by Bradbury is the recurring scream heard by the Hadley’s and coming from the nursery. These screams are heard on two occasions, followed by the roar of the lions. The third time George says of the screams, "they sound familiar" but he can't think why. Only once both parents have been locked into the nursery by their children do
Warner 4 the parents realize it was their own voices they had heard in advance of being attacked by the lions. The tone of the story is also rather dark for most, if not all, of the story’s duration. The very first conversation is about something being wrong with something in the new house and for the rest of the story the feeling of unease came up whenever the nursery was mentioned. From paragraph one; it’s a frightening slope downward as the parents seem to hear screams coming from the lion’s den. Gadgets in the house other than the nursery are also not listening to commands and an entire house that is malfunctioning is a terrifying thought all on its own. The children here also have a very unhealthy dependence on all of their technology as shown from the line “The two children were in hysterics” (Bradbury, “The Veldt”) after the father, George, turns all the electronics in the house off. The title is also something of great interest. It could have been titled “The Nursery” or “Happylife Home” to reference text from the story itself, but Ray Bradbury “opted for the much stranger “The Veldt.” (shmoop.com). This title helps the reader visualize what the children are creating, a grassy field where lions roam. When “The Veldt” was first released it was titled “The World the Children Made”. This title is more thematic, considering the story is about the children’s rather disturbing behavior. The title “The Veldt” however tells the reader exactly what the children make and keeps the attention on the lions running wild inside a room in someone’s house. Warner 5
Despite Bradbury being hailed as one of the most prominent writing figures of the last few decades, it is unclear whether or not the message about technology readers received was intended, or if the story was just meant to give readers a scare. Regardless, this story has left its mark in more ways than one.

Works Cited * Web. 26 Feb. 2015. Bradbury, Ray. “The Veldt”
< http://www.d.umn.edu/> * Shmoop Editorial Team. Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 26 Feb. 2015. * "Ray Bradbury." Ray Bradbury.com, 10 Feb. 2004. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.