Familial Relationships in The Veldt
by Lillian Bonar
Essay: Familial Relationships in The Veldt
Pages: 11
Rating: 3 stars
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As young children grow up, their attitudes dramatically transform. They translate from loving their parents to
disliking them. When their lifestyle is adversely affected, this universal process accelerates. Ray Bradbury, an
acclaimed writer and a known opponent of Silicone Valley, comments on this recurring motif, technology.
According to Ray Bradbury’s official website, he has won the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for
Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation
(HarperCollinsPublishers). He is the author of the critically acclaimed books Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles,
and Something Wicked This Way Comes (HarperCollinsPublishers). In Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt, ” George and
Lydia Hadley purchase a state-of-the-art house for their children, Peter and Wendy Hadley. The house performs all
the duties for the children and parents. The children revolt and murder their parents using the multi-dimensional
nursery which allows them to enact anything they imagine. Ray Bradbury develops his theme that technology
affects quality of familial relationships in his short story “The Veldt” through the use of foreshadowing, conflict,
and imagery.
To begin with, Bradbury develops his theme that technology affects quality of familial relationships through the
use of foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is ample in stories with sinister climaxes and endings. Since “The Veldt”
culminates in the murder of two adults, it has quotes that foreshadow the death of George and Lydia Hadley.
Bradbury introduces foreshadowing in the short story to exhibit George’s and Lydia’s fear and the defiance of
Peter and Wendy Hadley. In the beginning of the story, when the parents are in the multi-dimensional nu...