Ray Bradbury is an award-winning author widely known for his descriptive writing style in American literature. Marked by careful construction of ordinary details and use of figurative language, he demonstrated great success in the use of symbolism in his works (contributors to the New World Encyclopedia). “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury is a short science fiction story published in 1951. It is one of eighteen other similar short stories contained in the book “The Illustrated Man”. The story is particularly thought-provoking because the writer uses a range of themes to address issues surrounding over-reliance on technology. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Summary Bradbury writes about a family who lives in a technology-enhanced home. George Hadley and Lydia Hadley are the parents of Wendy and Peter. Their automated house does supernormal things like feeding and clothing its inhabitants. The disturbing story begins when Lydia asks her husband if he noticed anything unusual in the nursery. Apparently, the nursery is one of the most exclusive and exciting rooms in the entire house. Its glass walls are capable of recreating scenes and sounds evoked by the thoughts of its occupants. When the couple visits the room, they find themselves in the middle of an African veldt and can hear the paper rustling of vultures and the sound of lions savoring their prey. The sounds and sights are incredibly believable and they have to run out of the room. While George wants to believe that their children aren't into violence and blood, Lydia worries that they might be. In any case, the room was designed to allow children to exercise their minds with unusual fantasies and in turn provide this information to their parents. George plans to turn off all electronic devices and live a simple life; an idea that Lydia welcomes with open arms. For a while, she felt like the house had taken over all of her wifely responsibilities. When George returns to the nursery a second time and tries to change the situation, nothing changes. He is now inclined to think that his children have overstepped the nursery's response. Concern about their good psychological health begins to occur to him and he decides to ask them about the nursery when they return home from a carnival. After the children refute their knowledge of the Veldt and Wendy enters the nursery, she returns with information that the landscape has changed. The apparent secrecy and disobedience displayed by the two children force George to invite a psychologist to come and establish the problem. It is established that the Veld suggests the hostile attitude of children towards their parents. This is finally demonstrated at the end of the story where the children lock up their parents to be eaten by lions. AnalysisIn “The Veldt”, the family is replaced by technology. George and Lydia want the best for their children. They spend a fortune to acquire “Happylife Home”, a house intended to make their children's lives interesting. Indeed, the house has achieved the purpose for which it was intended. But he does it so well that their parents start to feel like they're being phased out by technology. This is seen when David McClean says, “…This room is their mother and father, far more important in their lives than their real parents…” (Bradbury 15). In a typical family setting, such problems would be easily resolved, but childrenof the Hadleys would rather kill their parents who closed the daycare. We see Peter shouting at his father at the top of his voice "I hate you!" when George closes the nursery (Bradbury 16). It could be argued that George and Lydia are not good parents. It could also be argued that the technology is powerful enough to cause addiction. Bradbury's tale aptly describes today's culture where family members are seen texting using their phones during dinner. We would rather be distracted by technology than by another family member. According to the author of this story, the supremacy of technology is ending family relationships. Bradbury manages to demonstrate how technology leads to identity conflicts in the family setup. In several instances, we see George and Lydia struggle to establish their identities as parents while also struggling for their personal identities. As a confession to her husband, Lydia says, “I don’t know – I don’t know… Maybe I don’t have enough to do…” (Bradbury 8). Everything, including bathing the children, is done in house. Similarly, George feels like he has been stripped of his parental responsibilities and unable to establish an adequate platform for communication with his children. This is demonstrated when George tells Lydia how their children threw tantrums after receiving light punishments (Bradbury 8). We can infer that he is afraid that he does not have the right to punish them for wrongdoing. Their focus on finding relevance highlights the natural human desire to find significance in everyday tasks and the need to feel that one is making a positive impact on society. According to Bradbury, even with technological advancements, such a basic need does not cease. In his story, Bradbury does a good job of using metaphors to capture the imagination of his audience. He uses his characters to describe implicit conditions using metaphors. For example, George is used to describe the virtual sun of the African Veldt as being "like a hot paw" (Bradbury 8). This comment aims to remind you that there are lions in the African Sahara. Another example is when George describes the lion's eye as being "like the yellow of an exquisite French tapestry" (Bradbury 6). This remark recalls the panoramic view of the lions and their beauty. Regardless, the lions in this context are artificial in the same way as the tapestries. The author conveniently uses metaphors to enhance his descriptive passages and provide clear mental images that emphasize the theme of danger. The choice of words used to describe how the automated house accomplishes various tasks is important to understanding Bradbury's use of personification in relation to his overarching theme. of technology. At the beginning of the story we see the narrator's words that "His wife stopped in the middle of the kitchen and looked at the stove busy humming by itself, cooking dinner for four" (Bradbury 5) and "This house who dressed and fed and rocked them to sleep, played, sang, and was good to them” (Bradbury 5). He wishes to show how the actions expected of humans are assumed by technology. The artistic element evident throughout the story is that of point of view. The story is told from a third person point of view. This would mean that he is not actively participating in the story. It is important to note, however, that the narrator is very close to the character of George Hadley. We can see that he follows George in all the scenes and doesn't leave to report everything that happens away from George. This pattern is only broken after the disappearance of George and Lydia. The narrator continues to.