Too much technology can lead to decadence and, therefore, decay. The technological creature comforts of today risk compromising the American family’s values. Ray Bradbury’s mechanical, science fiction future, The Veldt, mirrors that of the present. A family's reliance on nonessential technology leads to their ruin as family structure shatters. Bradbury’s use of motif and symbolism conveys the idea that an overwhelming dependence on technology can brutally and consequently separate children from their parents. The extended metaphor of the nursery’s isolation is used by Bradbury to emphasize the growing gulf between the children and the parents, further conveying the idea that overdependence on technology can break a family. The nursery is accessed by a hallway, that has lights that turn on when one “came within ten feet” of the lights. If there are multiple lights that turn on when one is within a radius of ten feet, then the hallway is …show more content…
He describes the machines as tools that “tie my [their] own shoes… brush my [their] own teeth and comb my [their] hair and give myself [them] a bath” beyond that they also “ clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep.” What are considered normal, easy, and everyday actions today are then considered unnecessary chores by Bradbury’s future society. Moreover, the inability to metaphorically and somewhat literally pick oneself out of their bed leads to a dependence on the shoe tiers and teeth brushers of the house. Accustomed to pampering, Wendy and Peter consider those machines to be needs and not luxuries. From the children’s perspective, they need to kill to protect their unalienable rights from their tyrannical parents. Therefore, leading to a separation from their parents. Perceiving an attack on their rights, the children ultimately, and consequently, murder their parents to protect their