The Veldt
“But nothing’s too good for our children.” Off the mark Ray Bradbury unleashes the well known thought of how technology is causing children to become increasingly distant from their parents; furthermore, parents constantly allowing children to obtain these items is making their children lose any sense of discipline and responsibility; therefore increasingly spoiling their children in “The Veldt.” “The Veldt” is the story of a conflict rising within a family in a very modern home. The conflict is fuelled with a neglect of love from parents; yet, an increased love for a very modern room has caused the children to care more for, and want more than their parents. The room is loved by the kids so greatly due to the fact that it “turns” into whatever they can think of; for this is something George and Lydia can’t provide. The idea of kids wanting more of technology than parents is a rising problem in my life as well as in many others; technology consumes our lives so much, we begin to lose any sense of love between ourselves and our families. It is true that our family cannot provide everything that technology can, but it is also true that technology cannot provide many things our family can; amongst the most important is love. It is very evident in “The Veldt” that the love in the family has already been long lost due to a very technologically enhanced home. “You aren’t going to lock up the nursery for good, are you?” This text demonstrates how much the children truly care for a nursery; whereas they feel close to nothing for their parents. The parents have let this love for the room grow to such an extent that when George attempts to shut the house down, a temper tantrum erupts from the kids which causes McClain to reassure George of the fact that “He has spoiled his children more than most.” Georges attempt to close down the nursery has caused him to not only become less significant than the room itself, but has caused him to become the children’s enemy. Ray simply symbolizes the children’s hatred by making George seem like Santa when he had no care for the children and the room; yet when he tries to close the room down, the transfer from Santa to Scrooge is nearly instantaneous. The climatic and dramatically enhanced point of this response is that family is a necessity in ones survival, most literally, we cannot live without a strong love and connection with our family. We also need a balance between our consumption of technology and family. Too much of anything can become hurtful.