"The Veldt" Essay

Technology and its Bad Effect on Families Imagine having so much technology that your kids start to think of it as their mother and father. The story “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury uses many literary elements to show the audience that too much technology can destroy a family. In the story, two kids and their parents live in a Happylife Home that does their everyday tasks for them. The children’s parents, George and Lydia, are going to learn that giving their children too much technology is going to lead to bad events in the future. Through the use of conflict, setting, and characterization Bradbury conveys that too much technology can destroy a family. By describing the conflicts between the Hadley’s, Bradbury conveys that too much technology can destroy a family. In the story, Peter gets into an argument with his dad who wants to turn off the nursery. It is a good example of the conflict between them two. He says to his father, “I wish you were dead” (Bradbury 7). This shows that Peter has so much technology in his life and now that his dad threatens to turn it off, he wants his dad gone. In addition to this piece of evidence, Bradbury explains the psychologist checking in with the nursery and what he finds out about it. “You’ve let this room and this house replace you and your wife in your child’s affections. This room is their mother and father, far more important in their lives then their real parents. And now you come along and want to shut it off. No wonder there’s hatred here” (Bradbury 6). This shows how Wendy and Peter have so much technology in their lives, that it is replacing their parents and creating a conflict between them. The kids don’t want their parents around anymore since they have this technology. Through the descriptions of the conflicts between the Hadley family, readers see how so much technology impacts them throughout the story.

Through describing the setting of the story, Bradbury conveys that too much technology