Science Fiction Short Story Critique
The Veldt
Ray Bradbury
Being able to imagine something that will later be transmitted into a three dimensional image is absolutely amazing. Ray Bradbury uses this kind of futuristic technology to develop a story that revolves around family issues, and parents who cave in, and give their children anything that they want. Lydia and George Hadley are parents who want to give the best things to their children. Peter and Wendy live happily with all of the technology their parents give them, but become seriously addicted, so much, it is hard for them to live without it. Their family issues increased, creating chaos that led into a devastating end. The story shows how technology can destroy societies and create aversion between families as technology comes between each individual, in this case, between the parents and the children.
Bradbury uses a high quantity of science fiction elements, specially futuristic technology. The most important future tech is a crystal, four walled room that is able to present the thoughts of the children into its walls. This room, referenced as the nursery, is a crucial part in the development of the problematics in the story. " The nursery was silent. It was empty as a jungle glade at hot high noon. The walls were blank and two dimensional. Now, as George and Lydia Hadley stood in the center of the room, the walls began to purr and recede into crystalline distance, it seemed, and presently an African veldt appeared, in three dimensions, on all sides, in color reproduced to the final pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above them became a deep sky with a hot yellow sun". This quote is a great example of how Ray Bradbury includes an amazing technology that is able to project what each family member thinks about. For instance, the kids read about Africa, so they constantly imagine it, creating a Veldt that is set in that precise place. The relevance and importance that this nursery has is the negative impact it performs on the children. The nursery is this addictive gadget that whenever it is turned off, produces madness and frustration in the children. This is just like a technology that we have now days, technology that makes its way into young people's mind and creates a rather negative effect.
The Veldt also uses a very significant element that is the house the Hadley's live in. This house is able to perform the daily chores that a person would normally do. It is a self cleaning house that is able to cook, bathe the children, sweep, mop, brush their hairs, prepare them for bed, and other things that are imperative for the correct functioning of a household. "George and Lydia Hadley are parents of Wendy and Peter Hadley. They spare no expense at providing their children with the best that technology can offer. Their house is completely computerized. There are machines to fry eggs, generate food, sweep the house and bathe the children". The quote above represents all that the house could do, how it replaced Wendy's and Peter's parents. Lydia and George didn't have to do anything because the house was able to do everything by itself. The importance that this house has is that it completely substitutes the parents and that may be one of the reasons that the end of the story is so chaotic and devastating. The house represents that the parents spend very little time with their children and they start becoming invisible and irrelevant to their kids.
A very interesting narrative technique that Bradbury uses in this story is the personification of the nursery. When the kids use their imagination, the nursery represent all of their imagination, making the nursery the reflection of the kids actual mind and conscience. He also uses a lot of description with the nursery and the kids imagination. All of their thoughts and beliefs are presented in that nursery, it shows their real self, what they want. "Walls, Lydia, remember; crystal walls, that's all they are. Oh, they look real, I must admit—Africa in your parlor—but it's all dimensional, super reactionary, supersensitive color film and mental tape film behind glass screens. It's all odorophonics and sonics". This dialogue shows that the nursery was surreal, it was outstanding, amazing. The importance of the descriptions and the personification is that it adds more details to the story, which makes it more interesting. With the personification, another character is also added to the story, due to the fact that the nursery has the thoughts of the children in the house. All of these extra things add a little something to the story.
Dialogue is also very important in the story. The dialogue is a very important narrative technique used in The Veldt because it shows the emotions, feelings, and thoughts of all the characters. For instance, when George and Lydia talk, we can see how they feel due to the way Bradbury uses the words. "That's just it. I feel like I don't belong here. The house is wife and mother now, and nursemaid. Can I compete with an African veldt? Can I give a bath and scrub the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic scrub bath can? I cannot. And it isn't just me. It's you. You've been awfully nervous lately."
"I suppose I have been smoking too much."
We can see the emotions presented in just a simple line of text, and that is also very, very important, for so much can be expressed in so little. The dialogue is crucial in the development of a story because it is the way that characters interact with each other. It is the way they express themselves to others. In my opinion Bradbury has used incredible word choice and is able to explain everything very clearly.
My reaction towards this story was that I thought it was very weird. I though the story was sort of creepy, specially for the fact that the children killed the parents. It is unbelievable that technology can make people so irrelevant that their own children think about murdering them. Also thought that it was weird yet incredible how a glass room could project the thoughts and beliefs of the children. I was really shocked that the parents died and even more shocked because it was their child's fault. It is amazing that the kids thought so low of their parents. The most important themes are the family issues and how technology becomes so relevant in a persons life. I think that the message is very clear, you need to value people more than you value machines.
The Veldt
Ray Bradbury
Being able to imagine something that will later be transmitted into a three dimensional image is absolutely amazing. Ray Bradbury uses this kind of futuristic technology to develop a story that revolves around family issues, and parents who cave in, and give their children anything that they want. Lydia and George Hadley are parents who want to give the best things to their children. Peter and Wendy live happily with all of the technology their parents give them, but become seriously addicted, so much, it is hard for them to live without it. Their family issues increased, creating chaos that led into a devastating end. The story shows how technology can destroy societies and create aversion between families as technology comes between each individual, in this case, between the parents and the children.
Bradbury uses a high quantity of science fiction elements, specially futuristic technology. The most important future tech is a crystal, four walled room that is able to present the thoughts of the children into its walls. This room, referenced as the nursery, is a crucial part in the development of the problematics in the story. " The nursery was silent. It was empty as a jungle glade at hot high noon. The walls were blank and two dimensional. Now, as George and Lydia Hadley stood in the center of the room, the walls began to purr and recede into crystalline distance, it seemed, and presently an African veldt appeared, in three dimensions, on all sides, in color reproduced to the final pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above them became a deep sky with a hot yellow sun". This quote is a great example of how Ray Bradbury includes an amazing technology that is able to project what each family member thinks about. For instance, the kids read about Africa, so they constantly imagine it, creating a Veldt that is set in that precise place. The relevance and importance that this nursery has is the negative impact it performs on the children. The nursery is this addictive gadget that whenever it is turned off, produces madness and frustration in the children. This is just like a technology that we have now days, technology that makes its way into young people's mind and creates a rather negative effect.
The Veldt also uses a very significant element that is the house the Hadley's live in. This house is able to perform the daily chores that a person would normally do. It is a self cleaning house that is able to cook, bathe the children, sweep, mop, brush their hairs, prepare them for bed, and other things that are imperative for the correct functioning of a household. "George and Lydia Hadley are parents of Wendy and Peter Hadley. They spare no expense at providing their children with the best that technology can offer. Their house is completely computerized. There are machines to fry eggs, generate food, sweep the house and bathe the children". The quote above represents all that the house could do, how it replaced Wendy's and Peter's parents. Lydia and George didn't have to do anything because the house was able to do everything by itself. The importance that this house has is that it completely substitutes the parents and that may be one of the reasons that the end of the story is so chaotic and devastating. The house represents that the parents spend very little time with their children and they start becoming invisible and irrelevant to their kids.
A very interesting narrative technique that Bradbury uses in this story is the personification of the nursery. When the kids use their imagination, the nursery represent all of their imagination, making the nursery the reflection of the kids actual mind and conscience. He also uses a lot of description with the nursery and the kids imagination. All of their thoughts and beliefs are presented in that nursery, it shows their real self, what they want. "Walls, Lydia, remember; crystal walls, that's all they are. Oh, they look real, I must admit—Africa in your parlor—but it's all dimensional, super reactionary, supersensitive color film and mental tape film behind glass screens. It's all odorophonics and sonics". This dialogue shows that the nursery was surreal, it was outstanding, amazing. The importance of the descriptions and the personification is that it adds more details to the story, which makes it more interesting. With the personification, another character is also added to the story, due to the fact that the nursery has the thoughts of the children in the house. All of these extra things add a little something to the story.
Dialogue is also very important in the story. The dialogue is a very important narrative technique used in The Veldt because it shows the emotions, feelings, and thoughts of all the characters. For instance, when George and Lydia talk, we can see how they feel due to the way Bradbury uses the words. "That's just it. I feel like I don't belong here. The house is wife and mother now, and nursemaid. Can I compete with an African veldt? Can I give a bath and scrub the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic scrub bath can? I cannot. And it isn't just me. It's you. You've been awfully nervous lately."
"I suppose I have been smoking too much."
We can see the emotions presented in just a simple line of text, and that is also very, very important, for so much can be expressed in so little. The dialogue is crucial in the development of a story because it is the way that characters interact with each other. It is the way they express themselves to others. In my opinion Bradbury has used incredible word choice and is able to explain everything very clearly.
My reaction towards this story was that I thought it was very weird. I though the story was sort of creepy, specially for the fact that the children killed the parents. It is unbelievable that technology can make people so irrelevant that their own children think about murdering them. Also thought that it was weird yet incredible how a glass room could project the thoughts and beliefs of the children. I was really shocked that the parents died and even more shocked because it was their child's fault. It is amazing that the kids thought so low of their parents. The most important themes are the family issues and how technology becomes so relevant in a persons life. I think that the message is very clear, you need to value people more than you value machines.