Literary Elements In The Veldt

Avery LaJoie
Megan Reiffer
Miss Rothenthaler
Hour 1
Friday, March 2023
Literary Elements in The Veldt Have you ever been so absorbed in technology that it made you lose sight of the real world? This is precisely what happens to Wendy and Peter in the story, The Veldt, by Ray Bradbury. This story is presumably set in the near future and the children’s parents are beginning to notice strange things occurring within the nursery. The family had led a happy life in a house where technology did everything for them, but this leaves the question, was their life truly all that happy? Throughout the story Bradbury uses dialogue, symbolism, and description of the setting, to show how being too dependent on technology can make one lose sight of what really

At the beginning of the story George and Lydia are talking about the nursery and the strange things they are noticing with it. “‘George, I wish you’d look at the nursery.’ ‘What’s wrong with it?’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Well then’” (Bradbury 1). This quote shows how the parents are speaking to each other in 3-word sentences as if they are unable to think about anything more than that. This could be because they are not very intelligent, however, the majority of this is caused by the technology that has overtaken their lives as well as their lives. Because they have never had to do anything for themselves, they lack the critical thinking skills to even form a full sentence. The author uses this to show us why maybe they could not realize their children’s true intentions when they are incapable to muster the brain power for an everyday conversation. Another way the author uses dialogue is when Lydia talks to her children. In an attempt to make them love her again, she gives them everything they want without question. Both of these things connect back to the theme because they show us how technology is taking over the way they think and the way that when they feel irrelevant in their children’s lives, they retreat and let the children do whatever they

When Lydia asks George to take a look at the nursery, the most primary observation George makes is the scorching heat of the sun beating down on them, “George Hadley started to sweat from the heat. ‘Let’s get out of the sun,’ he said, ‘This is a little too real. But I don’t see anything wrong’” (Bradbury 1). George says the sun is too real and tries to get out of the obvious burning heat of the sunshine. This is just like his children’s obvious rage and hatred towards them, constantly there, beating on their parents just like the sun. At the end of the story, the author says, “The vultures were dropping down from the burning sky” (Bradbury 13). This quote connects back to the symbol of the sun because after the children kill their parents out of anger for being denied something for once in their life, the sun continues to shine. It continues burning the truth into the skin and eyes of all who see or feel it. All of this demonstrates the central theme because it shows how the children have always had technology to take care of them and do everything for them, blinding them to what life truly is, what it could be, and blinding them from the meaning of