Questions for The Veldt
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY
Describe and evaluate the relationships between the parents (George and Lydia) and the children (Wendy and Peter) in the Hadley family. (comprehension and evaluation)
1. How does Bradbury show us what their relationship is like?
• What does the interchange between George and the children reveal?
• Lydia quotes an old saying, “Children are carpets, they should be stepped on occasionally.” Identify the figure of speech used in this saying and explain what the saying means. Why does Lydia quote it at this point in the story?
2. Compare and contrast what George and Lydia Hadley give their children and what the children really need. (comprehension)
• What do George and Lydia Hadley give their children?
• What do the children need?
• What is the result of this discrepancy?
Both George and Lydia give their children a surrogate parent, the nursery. George believes supporting physical sources such as money mostly needed for children. When George tried to shut off the nursery, the children terrifies if the nursery actually shuts off. Children are afraid if they are going to lose their care from the nursery. What the children need is care, but their real parents stop the primary illusionary care from the nursery. It leads the children to murder their real family.
3. George names the children’s creation of the African veldt in the nursery “death thoughts” and muses that they are “awfully young…for death thoughts.” Explain the factors that produce the “death thoughts” in the children.
4. According to David McClean, the psychologist, what is the problem in the Hadley family? Do you agree or disagree with his diagnosis? Why? (comprehension and evaluation)
5. Imagine a solution to the problem in the Hadley family. How would the story’s end differ