Familial Relationships in The Veldt by Ray Bradbury

As young children grow up, their attitudes dramatically transform. They change from loving their parents to disliking them, which is a universal process. When technology adversely affects their lifestyle, this universal process accelerates. Ray Bradbury, an acclaimed writer and a known opponent of Silicon Valley, has published books in order to enlighten the world on the inadequacies of technology. Bradbury says, “People are walking around the streets with phones to their heads talking to someone ten feet away. We've killed two million people with automobiles. We're surrounded by technology and the problems created by technology" (HarperCollinsPublishers). Some of the bestselling science fiction novels he authored are Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes (HarperCollinsPublishers). In the year 2000, he was conferred with the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation. In 2007, he was presented with the Special Citation by the Pulitzer Prize Committee, honoring his prolific career as a science fiction writer (HarperCollinsPublishers).

In order to reveal his ideology about a technological utopia to readers, Bradbury published “The Veldt, ” a short story about the negative ramifications of technology’s ubiquitous manifestation within a household. In “The Veldt” George and Lydia Hadley and their children, Peter and Wendy, reside in their Happylife Home. The Happylife Home does all the chores, culinary, and other tasks normally done by humans, using state-of-the-art automated technology, without using human labor. The parents regret purchasing the Happylife Home with technological lifestyle, and they want to transition into a home with a normal lifestyle. ...

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