The+Veldt

=﻿"**The Veldt"**= Ray Bradbury

Veldt; –noun the open country, bearing grass, bushes, or shrubs, or thinly forested, characteristic of parts of southern Africa. -Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition [dictionary.com]

**Setting**- "The Veldt" takes place in the Hadley's new house.

**Protagonist**- Daid McClean advised George Hadley to turn off the house for awhile, and to live without technology. He even came to assist the Hadleys on their trip to Idaho.

**Antagonist**- The Hadley's were so dependant on technology that their family life suffered. Wendy and Peter barely spoke to their parents, and were angered when they wern't allowed to rocket to New York, or when the nursery was locked. Mrs. Hadley ate dinner alone while George inspected the veldt land that had appeared in the nursary.

**Form of Technology**- The Happylife Home, a futuristic house with a nursery that adapts to the Hadley children's imagination.

**Conflict & Theme**- The Hadley children become dependant on their nursery, spending most of their time there. Peter doesn't even look at his father when he hears that the nursery might be locked for awhile. George Hadley makes the decision to turn off the house after a visit from David McClean, a psychologist. The theme of The Veldt is loss of independance. McClean tells George Hadley that without his kitchen, he wouldn't be able to break an egg, the Hadleys entire lifestyle relied on the use of technology.

**Summary**- Lydia and george Hadley have a incredible piece of technology at their house. The nursary in the Hadley house, does pretty much everything for the family. It will brush their teeth, dresses them, cooks the food, and even will put them to sleep. Lydia suspects something is wrong with the nursery and oreders george to check it out. When the parents stand in the middle of the room, the nursery turned into a full African Veldt, complete with a blazing hot sun and all the experiences that would accompany a regular veldt such as lions, and vultures. The parents see a lion feeding on prey, suddenly the lions chase after the Hadleys, forcing them to run out of the nursey and slam the door. Lydia gets worried the machine's setting have been changed, but George assures its just being as realistic as possible. Eventually, they come to the dicision of locking the nursery down for a couple of days after a psychologist, David McClean advises the idea. The children are very unhappy about the shutdown so they trick the parents and trap them in. The parents do not what to do as the lions advanced forward. 1.The bottom of my last page is hard to read, did the parents get eaten by the lions? 2.Was Ray Bradbury thinking of what houses in the future might be like when he designed the Happylife House? 3.Why did the children Peter and Wendy lock their own parents into the Veldt?
 * Questions for Discussion- **

Emily DeAngelis Dan Custren

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