The Veldt Questions and Answers
The Veldt
What are the two similes Bradbury uses to describe Peter's and Wendy's physical traits? What is ironic about these...
A simile is a comparison of two unalike things in which the word like or as is used. When Wendy and Peter arrive at home from the carnival they'd been visiting, the narrator says that they were...
The Veldt
In "The Veldt," why did Wendy and Peter focus their attention on the African veldt?
The Hadley children are named after Wendy Darling and Peter Pan, children who live, for some time, quite happily and freely without parents. Peter Pan, especially, never wants to grow up, and Wendy...
The Veldt
What are two lines in which personification is used to give human traits to the Happylife Home operating system in...
Personification is a literary device in which a thing, animal, or inanimate object is given human attributes in order to add an aesthetic quality to the narrative and contribute to the author's...
The Veldt
Where is there foreshadowing in "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury?
"The Veldt" uses foreshadowing as a key plot element. This is apparent from the first lines of the story, where Lydia thinks there is something the matter with the nursery room and asks her husband...
The Veldt
Early in the story "The Veldt," what evidence are we given that the Happylife Home system has not made either of the...
In Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt," George and Lydia Hadley purchase an expensive Happylife Home, which is a completely automated smart home that performs virtually every necessary function...
The Veldt
Early in "The Veldt," Bradbury skillfully raises two important points about modern life in a single sentence. Look...
The science fiction short story “The Veldt” examines a futuristic, fully automated house and its effect on its occupants, the Hadley family. Named the HappyLife Home, it anticipates and fulfills...
The Veldt
What is the setting of the story "The Veldt"?
The setting of “The Veldt” is the Hadley’s home, although this is not a family home as we would recognize it today. Their futuristic home is controlled by automated, state-of-the-art technology...
The Veldt
How are George and Lydia shown to have failed their children in "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury?
As he talks to Lydia about the supposed neuroses of their children, George observes: Who was it said, "Children are carpets, they should be stepped onoccasionally"? We’ve never lifted a hand....
The Veldt
What is the main message in "The Veldt"?
The main message of "The Veldt" concerns the dangers of becoming too reliant on technology and the consequences attached to not disciplining children. George and Lydia Hadley purchase an expensive,...
The Veldt
What message is Ray Bradbury giving in his short story "The Veldt"?
The primary message of Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt" concerns the dangers of overreliance on technology. Bradbury presents a cautionary tale of how technology can completely consume a...
The Veldt
Who killed the parents in "The Veldt"?
In a way, one could argue that George and Lydia killed themselves, indirectly of course. Yes, the lions kill them, and yes those lions were created by the couple's children, but those children were...
The Veldt
In "The Veldt," what does the house do for the family?
The Hadley family, in the Ray Bradbury short story "The Veldt," lives in a "Happylife Home," which they say they bought so that they wouldn't have to do anything anymore. This home provides for all...
The Veldt
What is the irony in "The Veldt"?
The irony in "The Veldt" is that the family has automated factors added to their house in order to simplify and ease their lives so that they have more time to spend with each other. However,...
The Veldt
What is the meaning of the quote "Children are carpets, they should be stepped on occasionally"?
When George Hadley says that "Children are carpets, they should be stepped on occasionally," he is communicating that he blames his children for the fear he feels surrounding the strange behavior...
The Veldt
Think back over the story "The Veldt." What do you suppose is Bradbury's opinion of children? Of humanity? Provide at...
Bradbury seems to conceive of children as very intelligent, capable, and potentially manipulative creatures. Wendy and Peter Hadley, the children of George and Lydia Hadley, have manipulated the...
The Veldt
The ending of the story "The Veldt" is intentionally vague. Explain what you think happened to Mr. and Mrs. Hadley....
It seems evident that Mr. and Mrs. Hadley were eaten by the lions from the veldt scene that plays on the walls of the nursery. This is foreshadowed by such events as Mr. McClean finding Mrs....
The Veldt
Carefully reread "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury and write an essay explaining what advice would you would give George...
Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt" has a few unsettling morals around leaving children unsupervised and being overly reliant on technology. To craft your essay, think about these morals. Why is...
The Veldt
What are some examples of personification in the story "The Veldt"?
Personification is assigning human traits to an inanimate object or an animal. In this story, the Hadleys' Happylife home is described and treated as if it is a person. For example, from the first...
The Veldt
What did Mr. and Mrs. Hadley do after the children disobeyed them and broke into the nursery?
George and Lydia Hadley are submissive parents, who allow their children to run the home, act disrespectful, and walk all over them. George and Lydia Hadley initially purchased the Happylife Home...
The Veldt
How is Bradbury's "The Veldt" an allusion to Barrie's "Peter Pan"?
A literary allusion within "The Veldt" to the story Peter Pan would allude to one or more of several things. Peter Pan was a playful rascal who never wanted to grow up. Peter Pan had a following...
The Veldt
Are the parents good in the story "The Veldt"?
The Hadley parents can be described as "good people" who mean well but are simply misguided. They believe that buying a Happylife Home will improve their family's standard of living. As parents,...
The Veldt
What is the mood of "The Veldt"?
On one level, the mood of "The Veldt" is clearly one of fear and paranoia. We can sense this from the very first lines of the story: "George, I wish you'd look at the nursery." "What's wrong with...
The Veldt
Why is the use of the names Peter and Wendy for the two children in the story "The Veldt" significant?
As others have noted, the names Peter and Wendy Hadley in Bradbury's 1950 story are inspired by J.M. Barrie's 1904 Peter Pan. Barrie's Peter Pan and Wendy Darling are a bit different than...
The Veldt
What are two bloody objects found in the nursery in "The Veldt"?
Ray Bradbury's short story, "The Veldt," explores the results of parents who spoil their children and rely on technology to take the place of family. In this story, George and Lydia Hadley have...
The Veldt
What are the conflicts in "The Veldt"?
I would want to argue that there are actually two levels of conflict that occur in this excellent story. There is of course the overt external conflict that occurs between George and Lydia and...
The Veldt
What moment in the story describes George and Lydia's failure as parents?
Towards the beginning of the story, while Peter and Wendy are enjoying a helicopter trip, Lydia laments about the nursery and tells her husband that she is afraid of the African veldt, which the...
The Veldt
Why did Mr. & Mrs. Hadley call in a psychologist, even though they had the power to turn off the nursery themselves?
George and Lydia Hadley, the parents in Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt," have abdicated their role as parents to their two children, Peter and Wendy. They are able to do this because their...
The Veldt
Give two examples of how George and Lydia raise their children poorly.
George and Lydia do not discipline their children very well. After being frightened by the lions, Lydia asks George to lock up the nursery for a few days until she settles down. George protests,...
The Veldt
We’re told that the Happylife Home system cost "thirty thousand dollars installed." Bradbury published this story in...
It's easy to do the math on the Happylife Home system and determine it would cost about $270,000 in today's money. This shows that housing prices have inflated beyond the average inflation since...
The Veldt
Why did Mrs. Hadley, who had been so frightened of the nursery, urge George to let the kids have it on for one last...
In Ray Bradbury's story “The Veldt,” George Hadley decides that his family has had enough of their automatic house that does everything from cook and cut their food to tie their shoes. He is...
The Veldt
What is a theme statement for "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury?
A theme statement encompasses a work of literature's primary theme and forms a discussion regarding the author's main message of the narrative. In Ray Bradbury's celebrated short story "The Veldt,"...
The Veldt
What is the conflict in Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt"?
Conflict can take two basic forms. External conflict is what we see when a character struggles against an outside force, person, or group of people. Internal conflict is a psychological struggle --...
The Veldt
In "The Veldt," what happens to George and Lydia? Why?
The climax of Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt" is George and Lydia's death in the simulated African veldt within the nursery. However, before they are trapped and killed by the machinations within the...
The Veldt
In "The Veldt," can you describe the situation between the parents and their children with a few sentences, and the...
It is clear that Bradbury presents us with a world in which technology has actually become more important to the children than their parents. When David McClean is called in to give his expert...
The Veldt
Why does the psychologist recommend that the nursery be turned off immediately in "The Veldt"?
When George and Lydia Hadley consult with a psychologist, David McClean, McClean informs them that this technology could be employed to gain insight into the psychology of the children who use it....
The Veldt
What reasons would Wendy and Peter have for murdering their parents in "The Veldt"?
The basic reason behind Wendy and Peter wanting to get rid of their parents is that, being children, Wendy and Peter have already been given an unnecessarily significant amount of freedom. Once...
The Veldt
Bradbury calls the children’s virtual reality room their "nursery" rather than their "playroom" or "game room."...
Looking up the word nursery in a dictionary, you will find a definition like the following: 1(a): an infant's bedroom b) a room or apartment in a home, set apart for the children as a playroom,...
The Veldt
How is the nursery supposed to work?
The nursery in Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” is an automated room that catches “the telepathic emanations of the children’s minds and created life to fill their every desire.” “The Veldt” tells the...
The Veldt
What are David McClean's observations of the family in "The Veldt"?
David McClean is the psychologist that George and Lydia Hadley invite to look at their nursery. He thinks that George and Lydia have spoiled their children "more than most." He also says that they...
The Veldt
Why is Lydia so concerned about the children in "The Veldt"?
Lydia is frightened because the children, Wendy and Peter, are drawn so intently to their nursery, and especially, to an unsettling scene in the African veldt that they watch there repeatedly. When...
The Veldt
In “The Veldt,” what is one specific way the Hadleys continue to spoil their children even after they realize that...
In Ray Bradbury’s story “The Veldt,” George and Lydia Hadley enjoy indulging their children. The parents understand owning the latest modern technology as a status symbol. Even more, they believe...
The Veldt
What point of view is used in "The Veldt," and why is this point of view appropriate for the story?
Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt" is narrated in the third-person limited, where the audience can only know the thoughts and feelings of one character. Unlike third-person omniscient...
The Veldt
What is the nursery in "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury?
The nursery in "The Veldt" is a very large room that displays interactive, immersive computer simulations that respond to and reflect the thoughts of the participants. In short, it is like an...
The Veldt
What were the screaming noises? What was happening in the nursery while the screams were happening?
In Ray Bradbury' story "The Veldt" the Hadley family purchase an automated home that does every human activity most people do, from cleaning, to cooking, to even tying shoes! Keep in mind that...
The Veldt
In "The Veldt," why is the children's virtual room called a "nursery" instead of a play room?
The definitions for nursery and playroom and the context of the story make it clear why Bradbury used the term instead of calling it a playroom. The Oxford English dictionary defines a nursery as...
The Veldt
What happened to Mr. and Mrs. Hadley in "The Veldt"?
In Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt," George and Lydia Hadley purchase an expensive, technologically advanced smart home, which is completely automated and comes equipped with an impressive...
The Veldt
What are five ways that the Hadleys are bad parents?
In "The Veldt," Bradbury portrays the Hadley's as bad parents in the following ways. Firstly, their purchase of the Happylife Home nursery suggests that they are bad parents because they buy it so...
The Veldt
Why did Lydia begin to feel unnecessary as wife and mother in "The Veldt"?
Lydia feels unnecessary as a wife and mother because the automated house does everything she used to do. This is the story of an automated house, the newest luxury of the super-rich. One of the...
The Veldt
In "The Veldt," how does the nursery work and become more frightening?
The nursery becomes more frightening when the parents realize that the children wish them dead...or at least unable to control the children any longer. Lydia mentions more than once that the roars...
The Veldt
What kind of relationship is there between the children and their parents in the story "The Veldt"?
The relationship between the Hadley children and their parents, or the lack of it, is a core element of this story. The children's lack of emotional maturity, resulting in a stunted relationship...
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