Introduction
Have you ever dreamed about living in a completely automated house with much technology that can do all your daily chores instead of you: clean, cook, do the washing up and so on? What will be your reaction if you find out that there is also a nursery in the house which can put you into any place in the world you want? It seems to be cool, doesn’t it? However, it is so only at first glance. The effect of such technology may be harmful as well. Ray Bradbury has shown the possible consequences of living in this Happylife house in his much technology story “The Veldt.”
The Veldt Essay Sample
I would like to start this argumentative essay with the discussion of the plot. With the help of using of stylistic devices and character, the author tells the story about a married couple George and Lidia who bought extremely expensive Happylife house in which machines can do everything. It also has a nursery that can put somebody wherever in the world as soon as a person thinks about it. They have two children – Peter and Wendy who are extremely spoilt by their parents, and the high price of the house and much technology symbolizes bad influence of permissiveness on their part. The nursery had a great impact on the children – they spent a lot of time there, watching at lions in the veldt. This room replaced Peter and Wendy their parents, and the more time they spent there, the bigger hatred they had to George and Lidia. Later their hate had grown to such extent that they started to imagine how the lions were killing their parents.
The house was slowly ruining their family. George and Lidia began to worry about the children having heard strange sounds from the nursery and decided to request the assistance from physiologist who advised the family to move to another house without much technology. However, children begged George and Lidia to stay in the room at least for one minute and locked their parents there. When the physiologist had come back, he saw Peter and Wendy having lunch and lions tearing something to pieces. He realized that because of lack of communication and influence of much technology, parents were killed by their own children at the point where the line between fantasy and reality was blurred, and lions became real.
In such a way, the author shows how much technology can destroy the life of a family. One of the main topics discussed in this work is an addiction to technology. With the help of an example of this family, the author shows the situation when much technology loses their useful properties and become the means which can destroy the family relationship and even lead to death.
Even having unrivaled analytical ability, you cannot find out the precise date when the events in the house with much technology that have ruined the family, took place. It is only said that they occur in the future. That’s why the modern reader may think that the moment of addiction to much technology, described by the narrator, has already come.
Speaking about this short story, we cannot but mention the diversity of stylistic devices and character which the author uses in order to reveal his theme. One of the most frequently used stylistic devices is irony. A person thinks about the completely safe and peaceful place where children play harmless games with other members of the family when they hear the word “nursery.” But not in this case. In order to show that intervention of much technology is ruining the relationships between parents and children, the author put all possible threats of veldt into the nursery, and the atmosphere of safety and peace disappears.
One of the stylistic devices used by the narrator to delve deeper into his theme of the much technology that can destroy our life is symbolism. For instance, lions may mean hatred to the parents. The more Peter and Wendy become dependent on the room, and the bigger is their disrespect to their parents, the more real become lions.
Making a literal analysis, we can notice that lots of clichés and advertising language are used. Their aim is to make fun of the society and its inability to confront the threats of much technology which can destroy the best values of family and family itself.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to say that with the help of different stylistic devices and singularity of the house with its much technology and nursery, in particular, Bradbury managed to reveal his theme and show that the things we are dependent on can destroy our family. One thesis that this story prompts us to realize is that it is a good idea to put our modern devices aside for a little while and to talk with our parents or friends. Of course, much technology can do the majority of daily chores for us but at the same time they can destroy happiness in real life.
