The Martian Chronicles, Dandelion Wine, And Something Wicked This Way Comes

“If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner”(www.brainyquote.com). Omar N. Bradley once spoke these insightful words, which relate to many aspects of life. This quote also pertains to one of Ray Bradbury’s works. Some of his more major works are The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. His dystopian, futuristic, science fiction short story named “The Veldt” perceives technology in a new light. “At the time the story was written, television was becoming a major force in American family life. Bradbury postulated what might happen if the items on these screens could eventually cross over from the world

of simulated reality to the world of reality”(Milne 276). In this story, the author uses the newest technology and advances it in a negative manner. Bradbury uses foreshadowing and imagery to prove that excessive technology can lead to horrific outcomes.
Technology is breaking boundaries it shouldn’t break at this point, and the writer uses foreshadowing here. “‘Oh, George!’ She looked beyond him, at the nursery door. ‘Those lions can't get out of there, can they?’ He looked at the door and saw it tremble as if something had jumped against it from the other side. ‘Of course not,’ he said”(Bradbury 3). This is an example of foreshadowing where it shows that the lions are going to be dangerous later on, even though they are completely electronic. Bradbury uses this article of foreshadowing to show that the technology meant to pleasure the children is becoming something for the children to channel their negative thoughts into, which is not good. “Something that is an illusion can never become truly ‘real.’ This is why George believes that the lions pose no real threat. They are only part of a machine that creates wonderful illusions”(Milne 274). This shows that George fully believes that the technology will stay holographic. It is foreshadowed through this that the lions will be harmful and prove to be as real as lions can get, and is proved to be correct at the end of the story when Lydia and George are killed by the same lions that their children’s minds created using advanced technology.
Foreshadowing is also used to prove that the technology is affecting the children’s technology.

“Two screams. Two people screaming from downstairs. And then a roar of lions. ‘Wendy and Peter aren't in their rooms,’ said his wife. He lay in his bed with his beating heart. ‘No,’ he said. ‘They've broken into the nursery.’ ‘Those screams—they sound familiar.’ ‘Do they?’ ‘Yes, awfully’”(Bradbury 6). This is an example of foreshadowing where it shows that the kids are actually thinking of killing people based on the fact that the room does what they want it to do. This article of foreshadowing is used to show that the technology influenced the children to the point of sneaking out of their rooms and even thinking about death. “In this story man in destroyed by the machines in two ways: not only are George and Lydia murdered by the nursery’s technology, but the children’s humanity is also destroyed. By identifying so closely with the nursery, the children have become less than human. They feel no guilt, remorse, or regret when their parents die, and it is clear that they have become as cold and emotionless as the machinery that controls the nursery”(Milne 275). It is proved through this that using the nursery as a means to help their mental state has not worked. Using too much technology, such as a way to channel thoughts, can lead to such mental disability that the twins have an urge to kill their parents. They actually go through with it, and the technology is the cause of

that.
Bradbury uses imagery to show that the technology was really advanced. “Now the hidden odorophonics were beginning to blow a wind of odor at the two people in the middle of the baked veldtland. The hot straw smell of lion grass, the cool green smell of the hidden water hole, the great rusty smell of animals, the smell of dust like a red paprika in the hot air”(Bradbury 1). This is an example of olfactory imagery where it shows that the technology was very advanced and actually gave the impression and the illusion that they were really breathing in African air. This piece of imagery is used to show that technology could go too far sometimes. “The room manifests thought patterns on its walls, thus creating the possibility for evil thoughts to conjure up evil things. The children are able to use their telepathy to direct their destructive powers into the nursery images, thus creating a deadly setting for their parents. In the scientifically advanced world of this short story, thoughts have now become weapons, and children can kill their parents just by wishing them dead”(Milne 275). Telepathy, a scientific phenomenon, is being used for evil reasons. Any technology that is developed too far is eventually going to be used for destruction.
The author uses many types of imagery to describe the fear of these electronics.

“And here were the lions now, fifteen feet away, so real, so feverishly and startlingly real that you could feel the prickling fur on your hand, and your mouth was stuffed with the dusty upholstery smell of their heated pelts, and the yellow of them was in your eyes like the yellow of an exquisite French tapestry, the yellows of lions and summer grass, and the sound of the matted lion lungs exhaling on the silent noontide, and the smell of meat from the panting, dripping mouths”(Bradbury 2). This is an example of organic, olfactory, visual, and auditory imagery. It shows how the lions seem so real that they could possibly not be a result of technology and actually dragged up to the Happylife Home from Africa. This shows that the technology induces fear, which can be very hazardous for mental and physical health. “These descriptive passages create a sensory atmosphere and add to the sense of dread that pervades the story. The ambience lets the reader know that this is not a cheerful, happy comedy and that there is a good possibility that something terrible might happen”(Milne 276). This shows that the nursery isn’t that child friendly and yet the children love it. The appliances of the Happylife Home have become so addictive that the children don’t even realize that they are being submerged into a pool of darkness.

In culmination, in “The Veldt”, Bradbury uses foreshadowing and imagery to convey that

an overabundance of technology leads to awful outcomes. Through using machines to fight man, he communicates the idea that technology isn’t always as good as it seems. It lead two ten year-olds to the brink of madness and made them kill their parents. Though time will go on and new technology will be invented, evil will never die out and the darkness will always take a hold over the machinery meant for good.