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Sci Fi elements in Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt"
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Sci Fi elements in Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt"
By Jokūbas Jaruševičius
Introduction
Published: September 23, 1950
Introduction
The story revolves around a nursery in an futuristic home in which there is a room which simulates whatever the children in the story want. Eventualy the children become attached and refuse to carry out even the most basic social tasks. All because the want to be in that simulation. "The Veldt" is often viewed as a cautionary tale about technological dependency and how it strains family relations.
Ray Bradbury
Author
August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012
Most widely known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 and his short-story collections.
Sci-Fi Element:
Tech Addiction
Sci Fi Element
Technology addiction is an extremely prevelant issue in the youth of society today. Many describe it as a control disorder, an inability of the user to abstain and or limit themselves from technology. This is seen in the story when the parents of the children decide to turn the nursury off, after being horrified by how it has socialy impaired their children: "Wendy was still crying and Peter joined her again. “Just a moment, just one moment, just another moment of nursery,” they wailed." [Bradbury 235]. Ray Bradbury's depiction of the issues of today are eerily accurate.
Symptoms
1. My child sneaks using screen media.
“They’ve broken into the nursery.” [145]
2. When my child has had a bad day, screen media seems to be the only thing that helps him [or] her feel better.
“It’s supposed to help them work off their neuroses in a healthful way.” [132]
3. My child thinks obsessively about their game or phone when not using it.
“Just a moment, just one moment, just another moment of nursery,” they wailed." [235]
4. My child’s screen media use causes problems for the family.
"Peter looked at his shoes. He never looked at his father any more, nor at his mother." [151]
In "The Veldt", Bradbury manages to precicely predict even the common symptoms of technological addiction, especialy childern. Here are some symptoms from the website of Sandstone Care, who run multiple treatment centers for addiction and mental health in the US. I have grouped said symptoms with exact quotes from "The Veldt":
What can we learn from this?
Conclusion
Though the short story contains many Sci-Fi elements that seem outlandish today, elements like technology addiction are very real and effect us in a very negative way. We must learn to control our urges, as to not end up like the two children in the story.
Bibliography:
Bibliography
Bradbury, Ray. The Veldt. The Saturday Evening Post, 1950.
Mally, Clint. “Technology Addiction - Teen & Young Adult.” Sandstone Care, Sandstone Care, 9 Dec. 2022, https://www.sandstonecare.com/blog/technology-addiction/.
Contributor, TechTarget. “What Is Technology Addiction (Internet Addiction)?: Definition from TechTarget.” CIO, TechTarget, 6 Feb. 2018, https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/Internet-addiction.