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An Analysis Of The Short Story 'The Veldt'

Decent Essays

In the short story “ The Veldt” the Hadley’s live in the futuristic “Happylife” home where the house does everything for them. Meanwhile in the modern world, a scientist in Switzerland has invented two devices that could reverse paralysis. Technology is advancing fast as society is trying to reverse paralysis, which may be a blessing or a detriment to the world, similar to the innovations in the short story “ The Veldt”.
“The Veldt” The Hadleys live in the advanced housing unit called the “Happylife” home, which does everything someone would do on a day-to-day basis for them. The populace of the world could agree that something could go right or wrong with using that kind of technology. The Hadley children have a nursery that shows images based on their thoughts, therefore the African veldt appears in the room. Everyone in the world would probably like to live in the “Happylife” house if they could. In the house is a nursery where it's controlled by the users mind, which is an advantage to the Hadley parents because they can see if there is something wrong with their kids psychologically. The Hadley family has life going easy for them in the house, there is a machine that does every task in the house for them. They whole family loved the idea in the beginning of the story. 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. The nursery has disadvantages for the children as George and Lydia can see an idea of what is going on with their children’s mind. As

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