Discussion Topic
George Hadley's character and his connection to his world in "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury
Summary:
George Hadley is a concerned father in "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury. He lives in a technologically advanced home that fulfills every need, which leads to a disconnection from his family. George struggles with the consequences of reliance on technology, ultimately realizing too late that it has replaced genuine human interaction and parental control.
What is George Hadley's character like in "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury?
In Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Veldt ,” George Hadley is the father to two ten-year old children, Peter and Wendy – almost certainly named for the characters from “Peter Pan” who would rather not grow up – and whose history of spoiling his children has brought his family to a dreadful conclusion. George and his wife Lydia are doting parents who begin to regret over-indulging Peter and Wendy to such extremes. Those extremes include the construction of an expensive nursery -- “. . .it had cost half again as much as the rest of the house. ‘But nothing's too good for our children,’ George had said” – as part of their Happylife Home, a marvel of technological sophistication that performs every conceivable task, leaving the human occupants to their leisure. For Peter and Wendy, that leisure involves constant use of the nursery, which magically transforms into whatever...
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location or fantasy the children envision. As Bradbury describes George’s contemplation of this technological marvel:
“Remarkable how the nursery caught the telepathic emanations of the children's minds and created life to fill their every desire.”
Lately, however, the children’s vision has been of the African veldt, populated by ravenous lions perpetually feeding on some manner of captured prey. While increasingly concerned about his children’s obsession with Africa, however, George is in a state of denial regarding the dangers the nursery poses in the hands (or minds) of resentful, vindictive children. Escaping a close call with the lions following an examination of the nursery, with Lydia terrified of what might have happened, George laughs off the incident and attempts to calm his wife:
"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, superreactionary, supersensitive color film and mental tape film behind glass screens. It's all odorophonics and sonics, Lydia."
As George begins to see the nursery for what it is, though, his demeanor changes; he becomes increasingly wary of his children’s obsession with the African images, but it is too late.
Bradbury provides minimal information on George Hadley. We know he is a devoted father and husband. We know he has tried to do what he thought was best for his children. Unfortunately for him and Lydia, however, the children’s anger over George’s minimal punishments, like shutting down the nursery for a few days, has stoked a murderous resentment. The Hadley’s spoiled their children rotten, and they pay a very serious price.
How connected does George Hadley feel to his world in "The Veldt"?
In the science fiction short story "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury, George and Lydia install a virtual nursery in their technologically advanced home. In it, their children are able to construct elaborate and realistic fantasy worlds with their minds. At first, they play in landscapes such as the wonderland from Alice in Wonderland, the Land of Oz from The Wizard of Oz, and other places they learned of from storybooks and films. However, as "The Veldt" opens, they have constructed a realistic African landscape, complete with vultures and lions. George and Lydia try to get them to give this up, but eventually the children turn on them and lock them in the nursery to be devoured by the lions.
George Hadley, the father, feels connected to the real world, not to the fantasy world of the nursery. He considers the virtual landscapes of the nursery simulations and nothing more, and at first, he even enjoys the realism of the African plain. However, he eventually comes around to his wife's viewpoint that the gruesome veldt is unhealthy for the children and agrees with the psychologist he brings in, who tells him that the nursery has become a "channel toward destructive thoughts instead of a release away from them." George decides that he wants to get the children away from the nursery, so he plans a vacation in the real world, away from the technology that has caused them so many problems.
The children are the ones who have become disconnected with the real world. They plead and beg, and finally, George allows them a few more minutes in the nursery before they leave for the vacation. That's when the children manage to trap their parents in the nursery to be attacked by the lions.