Themes Of The Veldt

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In the short story, “The Veldt”, by Ray Bradbury a family of four live in a very futuristic house. Everything in the house is automated so if the family wants dinner the house makes it for them, they want to shower the house scrubs them down, and even if they need to do something as simple as tying their shoes the house will do it for them. The parents of the children buy them a virtual reality machine called “the nursery” to help heal their potential neurosis, but after becoming to dependant on the house the parents want to shut it down. The children have different thoughts than the parents and lock them in the nursery where the parents eventually die. Within the story there are many themes that can be interpreted; Two of which are that a parents love for their children may end up spoiling them therefore making them unappreciative, and that the more dependant society becomes towards technology the more potentially harmful it may become. The theme that a parent’s love for their children may make them spoiled and unappreciative is displayed many times throughout the short story. When the mother of the family says to the father “We’ve given the children everything they ever wanted. This is our reward – secrecy, disobedience?” (Pg.32) the parents in the family are reminiscing about how they bought their kids “the nursery” and how now the kids are now lying to them about what they are doing in it. If the parents of the family taught their kids respect and discipline instead of buying them whatever they wanted to keep them happy the kids could be much more appreciative when the got something such as “the nursery” and would not abuse what their parents give them. This theme is shown once again when one of the children in the family yells “I wish you were dead!” (pg.35) after the father attempts to shut down the nursery. The child overlooks the fact that without his

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