Foreshadowing in Bradbury’s ‘the Veldt’

In The Veldt, written by Ray Bradbury, the gothic horror (science fiction) and dramatic irony is really proven here as there are some interesting problems caused in the thirty thousand dollar home. The parents, George and Lydia, are no longer needed to take care of the kids as their advanced house ultimately does it for them. They are planning to go on a vacation but just as they are about to leave, Wendy and Peter, the kids, trap them in a nursery and kill them with their thoughts.

Overall, The Happylife home is lacking human connections and real parenting roles. However, on the opposing side, there are still some values and benefits to this house. It can make the children learn new hobbies or activities, pleasure and happiness, and it is way more efficient than a regular home. (good introduction) Firstly, although a machine is not the most reasonable way to teach children new things, it turns out to be a positive in this text. This machine in their house can not only do things for them, but teach them things as well. For example, because the house basically does everything for the children, they are able to incorporate that into their daily lives when they don’t have this privilege of this kind of house anymore.

Therefore, this could potentially become a better strategy of education, rather than the actual parents. This is because since they have been raised in that community for a period of time, they actually don’t like their parents anymore. It has gotten to that point where these children start to have their own preferences and prefer a machine over family. This could be better for their children to learn and grow up in a better community. In addition, when they grow up in the future, they could be able to take these skills and apply it to the real world. In all honesty, the children are pretty smart and creative. This is because they are constantly thinking about different things, as proven in the text.

They could put their thoughts into real life situations and actually grow up to become better people. No matter how crazy they might be, or how much the nursery has changed them, these children has the potential to be great, all because of the one house. (Sam, they killed their parents due to machines. What do you think the author was trying to communicate?) Secondly, children like happiness and pleasure in life. They always want instant gratification for anything. This is the exact reason why the children could derive pleasure, just by having a machine do anything they want for the whole day.

This is actually better for the children than for the parents to just take care of them by themselves. This becomes a win - win situation for both the parents and the kids because the parents are always wanting to go on a vacation and the kids are always wanting to get whatever they want. The house/machine does it all for the kids, giving the parents the opportunity to go on a vacation. The Happylife home is a very expensive house but is all for the better of the kids and parents. For example, Bradbury states, “... Remarkable how the nursery caught the every telepathic emanations of the children’s minds and created life to their every desire.” This reveals that the children actually are happy in where they live and how they develop.

The Happylife home is the children’s base and foundation for their whole lives. Lastly, the Happylife home is expensive because of one important reason, efficiency. The thirty thousand dollar house is actually totally worth the money because Wendy and Peter can actually do their everyday things, just by either the click of a button, or automatic. The home can support them by doing everyday things better and better. For example, the short story states that the children were eating strawberry ice cream and hot dogs. This shows that all they needed to do was to think about it and they would have it in their hands immediately. This proves that the children can live a better life by having instant gratification. This house is better than any ‘normal house’ because the house is also doing the parents a favour. By having the machine do everything for the kids, the parents can take a break.

In conclusion, the values of the Happylife home is beneficial to the children.

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