Symbolism In The Veldt

Discipline is the practice of training children to obey rules, using punishment to correct disobedience; discipline is enforced by most parents. However in “The Veldt”, instead of George and Lydia disciplining their children Peter and Wendy, they pamper Peter and Wendy, which Bradbury suggests is a direct reason why Peter and Wendy become unruly and aggressive. Through characterization, foreshadowing, and symbolism, Bradbury displays that there can be grave consequences to not disciplining your child. Bradbury uses characterization to display that the kids become dependent on the nursery, they start seeing it as an actual person. When George is about to close the doors to the nursery, Peter freaks out and says with anger to the ceiling, “Don’t

When George and Lydia were in the nursery and near the lions they heard a scream. George asks Lydia, “Did you hear that scream?” which Lydia replies to, “No” (Bradbury 2). Later on in the story, they heard 2 screams following the roar of lions. George then says, “Those screams — they sound familiar” (Bradbury 9). These series of events suggest that those screams are so familiar because they are George and Lydia’s screams. George and Lydia first heard these screams when they were in the nursery near the lions and heard it the second time when they heard the screams coming from downstairs followed by the roar of lions. This presence of lions when George and Lydia hear the screams shows that something will horrible will happen to the parents because of the lions. To further prove this point, later on in the story, George and Lydia are trapped in the nursey with the lions. As the lions start to come toward George and Lydia, they screamed. The narrator states that George and Lydia had suddenly realized why the other screams sounded familiar because they were George and Lydia’s screams. Another example of foreshadowing in the story was when George and Lydia were in the nursery. When George and Lydia were in the nursery, George saw something laying in the corner where the lions had been. George picks it up and slowly walks back to

In the beginning of the story, Lydia realizes there is something wrong with the nursery so she asks George to go check it out. When George and Lydia go the nursery they see an African Veldt with lions feeding on something. Lydia says there is something wrong with the nursery because the scenery had changed. Later in the story, the narrator is telling the reader George’s thoughts on the changing of scenery in the nursery. The narrator states, “Remarkable how the nursery caught the telepathic emanations of the children’s minds and created life to fill their every desire. The children thought lions, and there were lions. The children thought zebras, and there were zebras. Sun — sun. Giraffes — giraffes. Death and death”. The narrator is stating George’s thoughts on the changing of scenery in the nursery. George believes that the changing of scenery had to do something with Peter and Wendy and their thoughts. Since the nursery’s scene depends on the thoughts of Peter and Wendy, they must be thinking about death since the scenery was Lions on an African Veldt. The Lions symbolize power but they also symbolize death since they are one of the most fierce and deadly animals. Later on in the story, George becomes worried about the scenery of the African Veldt of the lions and what effect it could have on Peter and Wendy so he calls David McClean, a