Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Veldt

Throughout their early life, children feel oppressed by their parents. From being constantly nagged to being misunderstood, children can feel that their parents dislike them. With screams and threats, with lions lurking, Ray Bradbury utilizes foreshadowing and symbolism to uncover those dark feelings that dwell within a child.
Foreshadowing appears multiple times in The Veldt with two prime examples leading the way. The first case of foreshadowing comes in the form of screams emanating from the nursery. Lydia Hadley, George´s wife, says that the screams seem awfully familiar. Although they don't realize it then, those screams are actually the screams of a dying George and Lydia Hadley. These shrieks are played over and over again in the nursery

by the Hadley's children and are a sign of the grisly end that the parents will soon come to. This shows the children´s malice because the children are imagining their parents killed by lions in their free time. This is terrifying. The other bit of foreshadowing is a threat uttered by George´s own son, Peter. Peter says,¨I don't think you'd better consider it any more, Father,¨ when George is considering shutting off the house. When George shuts down the many mechanical parts of the house, Peter goes through with his threat and locks his parents in the nursery. He and his sister then wait outside the nursery calmly while lions tear into the flesh of his parents with relish. This shows the children's anger at their parents because they just murdered their parents via lion. Overall, the use of foreshadowing illustrates the levels of contempt and hatred that the children feel for their parents.
Although not as striking or important, there are other author´s crafts being used in The Veldt. One of these is descriptive language. The main function of descriptive language in The Veldt is to show detail in both the Happylife Home and the nursery. A few examples include the details of a lion's eyes and the sounds of the automatic kitchen making food. There are also some similes that are being used. These similes are being used for similar purposes, as many of the similes in The Veldt are used to insert images in the reader´s head. However, as nice as these author´s crafts are, they are not that important in the overall story. That is where the symbolism and foreshadowing take center stage.
There is one main symbol that appears throughout The Veldt. That symbol is the lions in the nursery. These lions were created by the children and are a constant fixture in the African veldt. What they symbolize comes down to what they do. They charge at George and Lydia Hadley at the very beginning of the story. They are also the chosen tool of the children when they lured their parents to their death. In addition, the lions are hostile whenever anyone besides the children are in the nursery. These lions represent Peter and Wendy Hadley´s fury and hatred. These lions follow the same track of displeasure at the parents that the kids follow. When George turns off the house, the anger peaks and both the children and the lions strike. That is how the lions represent the children's malevolence and show the hostility that the children direct at their parents.
Through lions and screams, with threats in between, symbolism and foreshadowing reveal the children’s hatred being pointed towards their parents. With lion’s actions correlating with a child’s frustration and threats leading to horrifying actions, there is no doubt that the foreshadowing and symbolism are supporting this point.