Compare And Contrast The Veldt And Nethergrave

Did you know that “The Veldt,” by Ray Bradbury and “Nethergrave” by Gloria Skurzynski both end in a form of dramatic irony? In both stories, the readers know that the lions Mr. McClean saw from a distance while waiting for Lydia and George Hadley, were eating Lydia and George Hadley. (The Veldt). And that the jaguar Jeremy’s mother was admiring was actually Jeremy himself (Nethergrave).

“The Veldt,” by Ray Bradbury and “Nethergrave” by Gloria Skurzynski are both science fiction short stories that, in a way, display the consequences of technology consuming one's life and becoming reality. For example, in The Veldt the parents have lost complete control of their own children because of technology, the nursery and other household machines, that

Their approach sensitized a switch somewhere and the nursery light flicked on when they came within ten feet of it. Similarly, behind them, in the halls, lights went on and off as they left them behind, with a soft

Automaticity. (“The Veldt”) This quote from the story tells the reader that this isn’t past or present, it is future. The reader can tell the story takes place in the future because of this line: “They walked down the hall of their soundproofed Happylife Home … this house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them.” This could almost be considered personification, if it wasn’t a science fiction story because people have yet to invent a house that does such things. Whereas, in Nethergrave, Jeremy seems to be living a present-day life just like us. To explain, here is a quote from the story:

“He unlocked the front door, Even though he was hungry, he didn’t open the refrigerator because the clock showed 4:05. He was fifteen minutes late. He wasted too much time sulking in the shadows on the way home. Hurrying to his room, he threw his books onto his bed, dropped his jacket onto the floor, and turned on his computer.”

On the other hand, The Veldt involves plenty of science and technology of the future. An example of this is: The nursery was silent. It was empty as a jungle glade at hot high noon. The walls were blank and two dimensional. Now, as George and Lydia Hadley stood in the center of the room, the walls began to purr and recede into crystalline distance, it seemed, and presently an African veldt appeared, in three dimensions, on all sides, in color reproduced to the final pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above them became a deep sky with a hot yellow sun. George Hadley felt the perspiration start on his brow. "Let's get out of this sun," he said. "This is a little too real. But I don't see anything wrong." "Wait a moment, you'll see," said his wife. Now the hidden odorophonics were beginning to blow a wind of odor at the two people in the middle of the baked veldtland. The hot straw smell of lion grass, the cool green smell of the hidden water hole, the great rusty smell of animals, the smell of dust like a red paprika in the hot air. And now the sounds: the thump of distant antelope feet on grassy sod, the papery rustling of vultures. A shadow passed through the sky. The shadow flickered on