In the past, families lived a technology- free life: waking up by the sounds of birds, communicating face-to-face, and walking in order to travel. Today, it is almost impossible to find means of entertainment not involving a colored screen. This demonstrates how modern technology has corrupted society. Despite the advantages of technology, it has contributed to an inactive population that is unable to think for themselves. Ray Bradbury was born on August 20, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. Bradbury won the Pulitzer prize in 2004 for his literary work, like “The Veldt.” The overall theme of Bradbury’s short stories and novels is that the world is undergoing a "too rapid and pervasive technological change"(Bradbury). “The Veldt” discusses a family of four living in a house in which everything is done for them. There is not one task that the “Happylife Home” cannot complete with its advanced technological aspects. Twins Peter and Wendy Hadley that live in the “Happylife Home” cannot even brush their own teeth without it being done for them. A technologically based society removes sense and common actions of humans; thus removing the original aspects of humanity that originated at the dawn of time. Ray Bradbury develops his theme that with the desire of technology comes suffering within his short story "The Veldt" through the use of irony, foreshadowing, and imagery.
In order to portray the theme of with desire comes suffering, Ray Bradbury uses irony. The Hadley family lives in a recently purchased mansion called the “Happylife Home.” This is an example of Bradbury incorporating irony into his short story. The “Happylife Home” was supposed to create the perfect, happy lifestyle for the the Hadleys, but this is clearly not t...
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Works Cited
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“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury deals with some of the same fundamental problems that we are now encountering in this modern day and age, such as the breakdown of family relationships due to technology. Ray Bradbury is an American writer who lived from 1920 to 2012 (Paradowski). Written in 1950, “The Veldt” is even more relevant to today than it was then. The fundamental issue, as Marcelene Cox said, “Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves.” Technology creating dysfunctional families is an ever increasing problem. In the story, the Hadley family lives in a house that is entirely composed of machines. A major facet of the house is the nursery, where the childrens’ imagination becomes a land they can play in. When the parents become worried about their childrens’ violent imagination, as shown with their fascination with the African veldt, the children kill them to prevent them from turning it off. Ray Bradbury develops his theme that technology can break up families in his short story "The Veldt" through the use of foreshadowing, symbolism, and metaphor.
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Taking everything into account, a future society, depicted by Bradbury, is alarming and differs much from our one. Such things like feelings, socialising, appreciation and communication are vanishing from their lives. These creatures are changing into dull, hollow zombies. The relationships inside the couples are a burden. Along with, nothing seems worth while. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a genius work to make people ponder over the future.
The first way Bradbury gets his message across is by using dystopia in his story. This allows him to depict a future in which technology eventually brings the end of humanity. Bradbury writes “The house stood alone in a city
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Ultimately, in his novel Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury is saying that technology, although wonderful, can be very dangerous. Technology can enhance the productivity of our lives, while reducing the quality.Human interaction is the glue that holds society together, and technology simply cannot be a substitute.
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