“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, Analysis by Muhammad Raza

 “The Veldt” Analysis

“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury is a disturbing story. Though it initially comes off as an almost magical and fanciful fairy tale, one in which machines do all the mundane, every-day tasks for us perfectly, it slowly transforms into a gruesome horror show that ends with the implication that two kids calmly murdered their parents. A key point in Bradbury’s stories is the rejection and warning regarding our over-reliance on and the proliferation of machines, so this story is in-line with his somewhat justified paranoia that robots will be the towering force and primary danger over humanity in the coming years if we do not do anything about it and continue with our current trajectory. However, while contemplating the story recently, I noticed a different kind of danger that Bradbury warned us about in the story that is extremely relevant to today: the fact that we are mental slaves to machines.

One of the aspects of “The Veldt” that makes it so unnerving is the fact that two kids chose to live in a simulated world with machines as their caretaker over the love of the parents that literally gave birth to them. Reading this, one feels that it is extremely irrational and terrifying how two children hold something inanimate more dear over their closest relations, but this fact is becoming truer everyday. Young children and adults of today’s era are almost never seen without a phone in their hand or pocket,a  laptop in their lap, or a TV placed in front of them. Furthermore, if this plethora of technology were to be removed, so many people would not only be powerless, but also lack the mental capacity and understanding to interact with other people, have empathy, or socialize because they are so influenced and consumed by the technology around them. Today if you take away a kid’s (or sometimes, an adult’s) iPad or phone for completely valid reasons, including the desire for them to spend more time with actual family, often they will start throwing a tantrum or completely detach themselves from their closest allies just because they don’t have access to a mere machine. This is not just a mild addiction to technology, but a pure mental dependence that illustrates how so many of us are literal slaves to the screen. “The Veldt” was written almost a century ago, and it is amazing to me how Bradbury made such a great prediction about what life was going to be like in the future based on the primitive technology present in the mid-20th century. Ultimately, the story makes me scared enough to pray our dependence on technology doesn’t end up making us imagine scary lions eating our loved ones.