September 21,2012
Period 1
Seed of Destruction Parents use technology to spoil their own children and then the children use technology to kill their own parents. This is the story of “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, where the Hadley children end up killing their own parents because they will be shutting down their high technology the nursery for their own good. In Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt”, the theme “overusing technology can destroy a family bond” is shown through the conflict, situational irony, and motif. One method Ray Bradbury uses to show that family bonds can be destroyed through the overuse of technology is conflict. The conflict in the short story “The Veldt” is person versus person, the parents versus the children. George and Lydia Hadley wanting to shut down the nursery down for their children’s own good. They needed it to shut it down due to Peter and Wendy’s own good. In the nursery, Africa keeps appearing with lions. George and Lydia suspected the children has been thinking negative thoughts and things because of what is appearing in the nursery …show more content…
such as the lions. But peter and Wendy disagree with their parents about shutting down the nursery. This leads to Peter threatening his father George about not shutting down the nursery. The conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist shows that technology leads to a broken family bond in the short story “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury. In addition, Ray Bradbury showed that overusing technology can destroy a family bond is situational irony.
The Hadley family spend a lot of money to install the Happy Lifetime Home. The Happy Lifetime Home intended to give the family a happy life But the Hadley‘s Happy Life Home just made things complicated for them. Lydia had worried about the whole house besides the nursery had took care of the children and the house took care everybody and itself. What is left for her and her husband to do? Nothing. The whole house replaces the parents “job”. It ended up the children in charge and the parents be the children all because of technology. Just like how peter threatened his father about shutting down the nursery. The Happy Life Home ended up tearing the Hadley’s family apart and losing each other. Ray Bradbury used situational irony to show that overusing technology can break a family
bond. Lastly, Ray Bradbury uses motif to show that overusing technology can break a family bond in the short story “The Veldt”. In the nursery it had projected an African setting and George and Lydia kept hearing familiar screams. They also saw lions eating something, but they couldn’t recognize what it was. Little did they know it was their screams they were hearing and that they are the ones who are getting eaten by the lions. George and Lydia were locked in the nursery by Peter and Wendy. All along, the children had been planning their parents deaths for awhile. Peter and Wendy had been having violent thoughts, that’s why there were lions in the nursery. They planned to kill their parents because the Happy Life Home had become their parents. The home had been taking care of them ever since they were born. The motif in the short story “The Veldt” had leaded to breaking a family bond by overusing the technology such as the nursery. Conflict, situational irony, and motif are three methods that Ray Bradbury
In the short story “The Veldt” to show “overusing technology can destroy a family bond”. Ray Bradbury was making a point about how technology can destroy a family. Technology became the parents of the children in the Hadley’s Happy Lifetime Home. Parents today are not so different and they replace their own time and affection for their children with television, computers, and video games. The short story “The Veldt” shows how technology can eventually destroy a family, even in future society.