Whose Fault is it Anyway?
Death is an element of life. Somewhere on the planet, someone just died. There is always a reason for death: a carcrash, a sickness, murder, etc. In Ray Bradbury’s short story, “The Veldt”, the parents of the two children, George and Lydia Hadley, die. It is known that they are slaughtered by lions but does not say if it was an accident or not. The fault lies on the parents because they did not involve themselves in their children’s lives enough. They let the Happy Life Home raise their children and let their children do whatever they wish. The bad parenting in the story, is the reason for the characters’ violent deaths.
Letting their Happy Life Home raise the children, leads to George and Lydia Hadley’s deaths. When George and Lydia are talking about the house, Lydia states that the “house is wife and mother now, and nursemaid. Can I compete with and African Veldt? Can I bathe and scrub the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic scrub bath can?” (Bradbury 78). She is admitting that her children have been raised mostly by the Happy Life home and not by their mother. George has been working since the time period is the story takes place in the 1950s. The parents let their house raise their children which, ultimately led to their deaths.
Additionally, the children are not disciplined or punished by the parents, which leads to the parents’ deaths. When George Hadley warns his son, Peter, that he needs to behave or the house will be turned off Peter tries to stop him saying “would I have to tie my own shoes instead of letting the shoe tier do it? And brush my teeth and comb my hair and give myself a bath?”( Bradbury 82). Peter is not used to being punished and tries to fight it to keep his normal freedom. The Hadleys do not punish their children often, leaving their children terrified to be punished. The scarce warning of being