The Use Of Technology In The Veldt By Ray Bradbury

“In the last 50 years, up to 100,000 Americans lost their lives due to inactivity leading to some sort of conditional disease such as heart disease [including the laziness within people of society]” (Wise 12). So many people have died from becoming lazy, doing nothing but go on their phones, devices, rather than doing everyday things. Technology has changed the way society approaches life, always depending on it rather than themselves and others. The society today consists of nothing but TV screens, telephone, smartphones, iPads, and items the 19th century would consider a dream to lay hands on. A book written by Bradbury presents lack of effort people put into their lives and society; Bradbury predicts how the future will become later on in the society. Becoming more similar to the laziness and ignorance in the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the society today struggles the society today struggles with dependency on technology which results to lack of social interactions with one another and failure in becoming literate with books.

Michael J. Fox once said, “Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.” (Michael J Fox) However, in Fahrenheit 451 and “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury this idea is aggressively rejected. The characters in Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, live in a society where technology negatively impacts their family and relationships with each other. Similarly, the characters in Bradbury’s short story, “The Veldt” are captivated by technology which has a huge toll on their family and relationships. Fahrenheit 451 and “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury discusses the negative impact technology has on family and relationships through the use of symbolism, imagery and character development in both stories.

Bradbury uses characterization to display that the kids become dependent on the nursery, they start seeing it as an actual person. When George is about to close the doors to the nursery, Peter freaks out and says with anger to the ceiling, “Don’t let them do it” and “Don’t let father kill everything”, as if he was talking to the nursery (Bradbury 13). This shows that the nursery became a vital role in Peter and Wendy’s life because Peter was in anger as if he depended on the nursery. In the phrase “Don’t let father kill everything”, Peter uses the word “kill”, instead of “destroy” (Bradbury 13). He was turning off a piece of technology, not killing someone but that’s how Peter saw it since he believes that the nursery is a real person. Peter also says, “Oh, I hate you” and “I wish you were dead”, to his dad, disrespecting him (Bradbury 13). These insults are things most kids will say when they are angry, but if they are not disciplined by George and Lydia these insults

The 1950s saw the start of in household technology, a staple in today’s modern world that’s supposed to make life easier, but with this technological use arises the question: are we going too far with technology? This is what Ray Bradbury questions in his sci-fi short story “The Veldt”. The overuse of technology in the Hadley’s home explores the theme of technology, family roles, and the nature of humans in regards to death.

In his story, “The Veldt” he describes a family who have chosen to raise their children through technology rather than by love and affection. The ideas of becoming dependent on technology, children losing social skills, and video games influencing violence is what our world consists of. Bradbury’s concepts of losing independence warn the reader that if humans don’t take a stand, they will succumb to technologies's control. One fear of Bradbury’s was that humans would become dependent upon technology entirely. Granted, technology has also been a huge

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury is a 1953 award-winning novel that presents the idea of a future dystopian society that is ran by the Government, and books are outlawed and must be burnt by ‘firemen’. The novel’s main protagonist, Guy Montag, is having an identity crisis and struggles with reconciling himself in his roles as a fireman and husband, when he feels so strongly that the authority figures around him have missed the mark. He has spent his entire life dreaming of the life he has, only to find out it is not enough. Guy Montag has been a fireman for his society for the past 20 years, he never had any choice of a different occupation stated when he was talking to his wife Mildred; 'Was I given a choice? My grandfather and father were firemen. In my sleep, I ran after them.' He has always enjoyed burning objects and watching them change. But for some reason, Montag is beginning to feel unsatisfied with his life.

The short story, “The Veldt”, by Ray Bradbury is a miserable story that children are influenced by technology to eventually kill their parents. As I started to read the story, it was not attractive for me. However, after I finished the read, the story has deeply influenced me about technology and parental education. From the short story, I think Ray Bradbury mentioned two themes; one is that dependence on technology can be dangerous for individual and society and parental education is important for child development. I agree his both themes.

In today's culture, people use technology to their advantage all the time. They use it to hack, to learn the latest gossip, or to see breaking news around the world. But, occasionally they get captivated and instead of an accessible apparatus, it becomes a necessity and a lifestyle. In the story, The Veldt, Ray Bradbury uses imagery, symbolism, and internal conflict to express that misuse of technology can lead to unforeseen disadvantages.

Technology is everywhere. There is not a single thing anymore that can be done without relying on technology. People have become so dependent on using technology, that without it the world would crumble. Sometimes technology can be a great tool for learning and assisting in everyday life, but when is it too much? Bradbury would say there is a line between useful and overused. This is proven in the short story “The Veldt”. Through the use of personification and setting, Bradbury conveys the idea that the overuse of technology can lead to the separation of family.

“Don’t overdo it, don’t underdo it. Do it just on the line.” says Andrew Wyeth. Too much candy is bad for you and too little education is also bad for you, as parents say, but it doesn’t only apply to those things too. Too much of practically anything or too little of anything is bad for you. Although some may disagree, the quote by Andrew Wyeth is clearly shown in the dystopian fiction story, “The Veldt,” by Ray Bradbury, which is about two children who have a house full of machines. A piece of technology that they have, is the nursery room, where it makes anything that the children think of come to life. The children have been spending a lot of time in there, and when the parents take a look, they see deadly Africa. The children

It has been thought that the more assets a man has, the better his life will be. However, Ray Bradbury disagrees with this notion in his story, The Veldt. In this piece, parents George and Lydia Hadley splurge on a fully automated home equipped with new technology, but learn that owning these extravagant accommodations can, in turn, have grave consequences. Using dialogue, setting, and the portrayal of reliance on one’s belongings in his story, Ray Bradbury conveys the message that the reliance on material possessions never produces a favorable outcome.

What would you expect to be the result of a parents investing a considerable amount of money in technology, to make the lives of their family easier? You would probably expect them to live more efficient lives, build stronger relationships with their children and spend more time with them. In The Veldt, a short story by Robert Bradbury, this is exactly is does not happen. The reason for buying so many gadgets was to create a better appealing home and lifestyle, but this became a point of stress rather than bliss. The family does have an easier life, but the cons heavily out weigh the pros. As a result of technology, the parents become disconnected from their children, lose their identities as parents and eventually lose their lives. Robert Bradbury’s short story vividly shows that technology is a double edged sword: it can make your life easier for your family, but it can also cut down the family tree you thought so strong and rigid.

Technology is simply the practical application of various scientific principles in the form of modern inventions. The previous century has witnessed a tremendous ever-increasing dependence on the latest technological devices, and drastic amounts of money were spent every year by people to get access to these inventions, and that has continued up till now. In Ray Bradbury’s futuristic dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, that negative impact of technology on our human nature was perfectly illustrated; additionally, Bradbury’s predictions are surprisingly very closely connected to our present.

“I don’t know. We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy.. Something’s missing. I looked around. The only thing I positively know was gone were the books I’d burned in 10 or 12 years.”(page 82). Set in the future, this story tells the story of Guy Montag. At first, he enjoys his job as a fireman that burns illegally owned books and homes of people that own them. Then, people that he meets make him realize that their government has been hiding things through technology and he begins to question his society. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury demonstrates the idea that government has been using tech to hide certain things from their society; this becomes clear to readers when Montag recognizes that there is much more to life than he knows, especially books.

Competing, as humans we compete so much throughout our lives, it’s what makes us human. We even try so hard that we distance ourselves from others. Ray Bradbury shows us in his two stories, “The Veldt” and “Marionettes, Inc.” that there is something we can’t contend with; technology. In these stories the author shows us a world where people are distant because of and can’t compete with technology.