Short Story Review by Ken Anderson

Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt”

The setting of the Bradbury’s “The Veldt”  is a “futuristic” house: The “Happy-Life Home.” The house is designed and constructed to fulfill every wish of its inhabitants.  George and Lydia Hadley and their two children, Peter and Wendy, live in one of these wonderful homes. They have no need to buy and cook their own food, or brush their teeth, or wash their clothes, or tie their shoes or do any manual household labor. Doors automatically open and close and lights turn on and off when they enter and leave. Windows open and close if they are too hot or too cold, food magically appears at the dinner table when they are hungry and beds are turned down when they are ready to sleep.  The house intelligently adjusts and responds to each of their individual needs. Some rooms apparently can even anticipate the needs of its owner, reading their thoughts and performing the required action before being asked.  The house also contains a high tech nursery designed to replicate in detail the sights, the sounds and the smells of any physical place, real or imaginary.

In the story, the nursery turns into an "real" African veldt.  A “veldt” is a subtropical grassland in South Africa. The grassland provides a fertile grazing area for many different kinds of  animals. But due to the large amount of gazelles, antelopes and other grass eating mammals, the veldt also attracts dangerous predators such as lions and tigers.  The children (against the wishes of their parents) turn the nursery into a grassland menagerie, reproducing every detail - even the scorching heat of the African sun.  

When Bradbury wrote “The Veldt” in 1951, America was thriving in the post World War II industrial and electronic age.   Items that were once exclusively available for affluent homes were increasingly being incorporated into affordable middle class homes.  Women no longer had to dry their clothes on a clothes line, nor did they have to wash dishes by hand. Refrigerators, washing machines, microwaves, cars, and television sets were items that the average American could now buy. The terms  “automatic”  and “modern conveniences” were absorbed by a hungry populace desirous of the things that technology and invention could magically provide.  It was believed that these new technologies would reduce the hardships of life and free men and women to enjoy life. 

In “The Veldt,” Bradbury cleverly juxtaposes the image of a futuristic “automatic” home and the image of a “nursery” that changes into an African veldt.  Bradbury adds another twist to the story by having the children secretly wishing an African veldt into existence. The nursery becomes their refuge and their secret hiding place, their secret garden.  This contrasting image of a protective nursery turned into a wild African grassland illustrates the possibility of danger in something that would normally be considered harmless and benign. The nursery is equipped with a highly advance computer system and crystalline mirrors that mimic and simulate the veldt. An “intelligent” nursery reinforces the current idea that the advent of  “artificial intelligence” in technology is intended to further benefit mankind. But all is not bliss in the garden.  Lydia reveals her concern to her husband that there is something wrong with the nursery:

“George, I wish you'd look at the nursery."

"What's wrong with it?"

"I don't know."

"Well, then."

"I  just want you  to look at it, is all, or call a psychologist in to look at it."

"What would a psychologist want with a nursery?"

"You know very well what he'd want."

His  wife  paused in the middle of the kitchen and  watched the stove busy humming   to itself, making supper for four.

"It's just that the nursery is different now than it was."

"All right, let's have a look." (Bradbury p.1)

Immediately the mood and tone of the story is set by George and Lydia’s unusual conversation. There is a level of  apprehension in Lydia's voice concerning the nursery. The danger to the children is foreshadowed by Lydia’s concern that there is a “problem” with the nursery and in her request for her husband George to “look into it.”  The uneasiness with the nursery is further complicated by Lydia’s remark that they might need to call a “psychologist.” By having Lydia ask George to call a “psychologist”, our curiosity arises: Why would you need a psychologist for a problem with the nursery? You do not need a psychologist for a nursery, however a psychologist would be needed for the children. Bradbury’s story cleverly raises questions of the traditional relationship between parents and their children in the context of a electronic-computerized society, where the granting of ones wishes is only constrained by the amount of money in your bank account.

Bradbury’s story illustrates that the promotion of new technology and its “noble” benefits to society fails to take into account human nature and the ability of mankind to twist “noble” ideas into selfish and  “malicious” purposes.  Bradbury’s story of parents wishing to better the lives of their children, is symbolic of  society’s  technological rush to better our lives. Our embrace of new technology, especially products that are consider new and innovative, often fails to connect with the consumer that their are potential risks inherent with anything new. And even though new ideas and inventions can liberate one from society's constraints and can benefit mankind, technology can also allow man’s natural capacity for self-interest and hunger for power to dominate and destroy society. I have read other short stories and novels by Ray Bradbury, and “The Veldt” is a must read.  He is master at exposing our fears and providing a glimpse into the possibilities of the future.