Read the attached story, The Veldt by Ray Bradbury, and answer the following questions in a Word document or separate piece of paper. Hand them in at the end of class.
1. What unusual technology in the story suggests a futuristic setting? How does the nursery work? Is it functioning properly in the story?
2. What mental and emotional effects does the veldt have on a) the children b) the parents and c) the psychologist?
3. What explanation can you give for the father's wallet and the mother's scarf being in the nursery? What does this suggest about the events to follow?
4. How does the author create and maintain suspense?
5. Find allusions to mythology and children's literature and explain their roles in the story.
6. What comments does Bradbury's story make about a) the generation gap b) the nature of children and c) the influence of technology on people today? What is your response to each of these comments?
7. Are the children evil to begin with or does the situation/environment make them evil?
1. The house and the nursery sugest that this story was made in a futuristic setting. This is because the house is full of machines that do everything for the humans. The nursery is one of the machines, it is a big empty room that allows the thoughts of the humans to be projected in 3D. Also, this machine mimics real sounds, feelings and smells to create a "real" fake world.
ReplyDelete2.1. The Veldt has a positive emotional effect but a negative mental effect on the children. The children love being in the African mimic and are in it.
2.2. The Parents are creeped out at the veldt. They constantly hear screams and see bloody things in the veldt. Mentally they are a little bit paranoid of the veldt and want to shut it off for good.
2.3. The psychologist is not highly effected by the veldt, he wants the parents to shut off the machine and let the kids have a real breath of air.
3. The kids have dreamed that the parents are being eaten by the lions and they had the stuff in their pockets or around their necks. I suggests that the kids want their parents to die and they are planning to kill them.
4. He never tells the reader what happens to the parents creating a cliffhanger and providing much suspense.
5. The story, the Veldt has connections to the popular story “Peter Pan.” The children are named Peter and Wendy, which are the same characters as Peter pan. Both of them leave their parents to go on adventure. Just like Peter Pan.
6. The children born in this time have grown a large disobedience when it comes to doing anything.
6.2. The children have also grown a hate for a manual way of life.
6.3. This can relate to people nowadays. Not wanting to do anything outdoors and stay in and use technology.
7. The fact that the future puts the kids in this situation. They turned evil from the start.
Alex W