Ray Bradbury's classic short story "The Veldt" was originally published in 1950 as "The World the Children Made." I read the story in high school and never forgot it. That was long before the internet and just moments before the dawn of cable T.V. We got electronically engaged with the first video game "Pong," basically digital ping pong and played Pac Man at aracades when possible. In the early 80's, I liked the story because of its terror more than anything. Now "the Veldt" affects me differently, of course and has inspired the questions below.
This story relies heavily on setting. What specifically are the two principle settings of the story?
Describe how the veldt is described in the story and what it represents first from the point of view of the adults then from the point of view of the children.
Why does the veldt become the setting and vehicle of fear, savagery and death at least from the point of view of the adults?
Do you think the children were calculating in their choice to collectively imagine the veldt? Were they making the world of the veldt in their nursery consciously to challenge and then snare their parents or were their imaginative needs some how mirroring their parents' world?
Is Bradbury yet again pitting technology against nature in a way that romanticizes nature and demonizes technology? Why or why not?
Consider the first title for the story. How does it change your view of the story? Why do you think Bradbury changed the title to "The Veldt"?
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