The Veldt Reflection

Short Stories Final Reflection

In the story “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, the children’s nursery, a supposed place of safety and innocence, had become a hazard for the Hadley family. In this story, technology is excessively used and takes the place of the parents and their duties to take care of and raise the children, Peter and Wendy. This shows when Lydia and George rush out of the nursery in a panic after seeing the realistic African Veldt. Lydia tells George that the nursery and the whole house should be shut down because she fears that the veldt was becoming too real and they were both beginning to feel unnecessary, as well as having less sense of belonging in the house. George is beginning to smoke more every morning, drink more in the afternoon, and needs more sedative every night. The

Also, in the video, Peter had a habit of calling his father George instead of the less formal way. This shows that the children were already becoming less attached to their parents, feeling like they don’t need them and would not resent having them eaten by the lions from the African veldt. Likewise, in the video, when George shut off the nursery, Peter and Wendy exclaimed, “You killed them! You killed them all! ”. Referring to the nursery as a living being instead of machinery seems like an indication that the house has already influenced their sense of humanity. They are starting to have less of it the more time they spend in it. This relates to my life because I feel that having a strong attachment with technology, at any age, can make a person detached from the real world, thus becoming more distant from the people around them. Technology is always advancing in many ways; anyone is able to download something with the click of a button. People every day around the world are using and spending more time on technology than on anything else. However, technology has its advantages, with it, we have the world at our fingertips: Google, Instagram,