The Veldt by Ray Bradbury
Uploaded by Gotskillz on May 05, 2004
The Nursery
Did the children of George and Lydia Hadley murder their parents in the 1st degree?
Parents can have a large influence on their children’s ways. Just as George and Lydia Hadley had in “The Veldt” by: Ray Bradbury. In this science fiction story, the parents made bad choices, that in the end led to their own deaths. George and Lydia Hadley had bought a futuristic house in their children’s early life. The house could cook, comfort, and could even play with the children. The house did everything that the parents were supposed to do for their own kids. The parents were too busy to care, never set boundaries, and rarely said “no”. Everyday the children grew increasingly fond of the house and its appliances; however, they gradually drifted farther apart from their genuine parents. Eventually the children became tired of their real mother and father and figured they didn’t need them any longer. The house was their new parent(s) now. Finally The two kids, Peter and Wendy, plotted and fulfilled the repulsive crime of murdering George and Lydia Hadley in the 1st degree.
After George confessed that he was thinking about shutting down the house sometime soon, Peter angrily stated on page 13 “ I don’t think you better consider it anymore, Father.” Maybe George should have taken the threat more seriously instead of letting it brush by. The threat that Peter had made was a true sign that he indeed had been planning both his father and mother’s gruesome demise.
There were many appliances in the household, but the most used one was the nursery. The nursery had an ability to bring the thoughts of its resident(s) onto crystalline screens. When the nursery picked up the children thoughts of killing their parents it brought their plans onto transparent screens. The children had been in the room watching the screens and practicing what they thought would happen. As screams escaped the nursery on pages 3,7,12, and 14 the built in computer was creating the sound affects of how the parents would scream before lions would eat them.
When the time came for their diabolical plan to be put into reality, the children deceived their parents by crying out “Daddy, Mommy, come-quick!”. Their deception had worked like a charm. When their concerned parents had come to the rescue, to there surprise their children were nowhere to be found. While the parents searched...