Freudian View of Parental Indulgence: "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury

The id represents a person's natural desires an instincts, the desires for food, safety, sex, all of those desires that satisfy the self. The superego represents the socially determined restrictions on behavior, the rules and regulations that govern how people ought to behave. Stories often center on the conflicts characters have between what they want to do (id) and what they ought to do (superego).

"The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury is a science fictional story about a family living in a complex technological home. The story revolves around the conflicts between the parents and children centered on the holographic nursery where the children spend the bulk of their time. While the Happylife Home is significant in the development of the story, the central issue is not the technology but how that technology has enabled the character motivations that lead to tragedy. Using Freud's id, ego, and superego as an interpretiver frame together with archetypal symbolism within the story, examine how the conflicts in the story lead to the ultimate climax as a consequence of the motivations and parenting style of George and Lydia Hadley.

Literary Elements

Dialogue opens in new window - What the characters say, and what they avoid saying (irony )

Character Motivation: What characters do and do not do, which reveal how they are feeling and thinking

Symbols opens in new window and Metaphors - Colors - Red, green, yellow are all significant symbolically

Foreshadowing opens in new window - Descriptions, thoughts, dialogue, objects, or word choices that hint at what is to come as when George imagines feeling the "prickling fur" on his hand, and his mouth "stuffed with the dusty upholstery smell of their heated pelts," their yellow eyes, their breathing, and "the smell of meat from the panting, dripping mouths," which is what a person would experience if being attacked by the lions (Bradbury 3).

Personification opens in new window - references to the house as if it were a person or alive (also relates to foreshadowing)

Repetitions opens in new window of ideas, feelings, objects, or descriptions: Repetitions indicate significance. Watch for explanations within the story as when David McClean explains the significance of the sun's heat (Bradbury 10).

Prewriting

How do the id, superego, or ego relate to the following quotations and references?

Be sure to include internal citations.
George locks the nursery for a few hours as punishment, and Peter and Wendy throw a tantrum. George Hadley is hesitant to lock the nursery again (Bradbury 135).
The house does everything, and now Lydia Hadley is bothered by that, and George Hadley is "nervous," "smoking too much," drinking more in the afternoons, and taking sedatives to sleep at night (Bradbury 135).
The children call to say they will be late and for the parents to eat without them (Bradbury 136).
George Hadley cannot change the room (Bradbury 136-137).
Wendy and Peter arrive in time for supper but are "full of strawberry ice cream and hotdogs" (Bradbury 137).
Lydia Hadley says, "We've given the children everything they have ever wanted" (Bradbury 138).
George Hadley says of Wendy and Peter that "they treat us as if we were offspring. They're spoiled and we're spoiled" (Bradbury 138).
Children's reaction after not being allowed "to take the rocket to New York" on their own (Bradbury 138).
Peter says, "I thought we were to play as we wished" (Bradbury 139).
Peter says, "I don't want to do anything but look and listen and smell; what else is there to do?" (Bradbury 139).
George Hadley says, "I won't have any threats from my son" (Bradbury 139).
Why does David McClean's suggest having the nursery "torn down," and what is the significance of his questions to George Hadley about what had been going on in the family (Bradbury 140).
McClean's comments on Santa and Scrooge (Bradbury 140-141)
Children's reaction to the house being turned off (Bradbuy 141-142)

Primary Source

"The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury opens in new window

Secondary Sources

Screenplay versions

Requirements

Length: Your essay must be a minimum of 800 words.
Documentation Format: You must include an MLA formatted Works Cited page that includes correctly formatted internal citations for the stories and the additional resources.
Sources: You are restricted to the story "The Veldt" and the additional resources included here. You must use both Kattelman and Bernardo as supporting evidence.
Format: The essay must be in MSWord format (.doc or .docx)

Students must use MLA style documentation. Internal citations should identify the author and line number for the poems and author for the article. Students must also include an MLA Works Cited page.Students should proofread carefully their final drafts for spelling, grammar, and punctuation as well as clarity, conciseness, and completeness. The final draft should be typed, double spaced, with one inch margins, in Times New Roman 12 pt. The essay should be a minimum of 800 words.

The essay will be evaluated based on how well students develop their arguments with significant support from the story (thesis, topic sentences, supporting details from the story); clarity, cohesion, and conciseness; correct use of MLA format; and grammar and spelling.For this essay, students may use a dictionary to help with words with which they are not familiar but should not refer to the dictionary definitions in the essay. Students must use MLA style documentation. Internal citations should identify the author and line number for the poems and author or authors for any articles or other resources. Students must also include an MLA Works Cited page.

Students should proofread carefully their final drafts for spelling, grammar, and punctuation as well as clarity, conciseness, and completeness. The final draft should be typed, double spaced, with one inch margins, in Times New Roman 12 pt. The essay should be a minimum of 900 words.The essay will be evaluated based on how well students develop their arguments with significant support from the poems (thesis, topic sentences, supporting details from the poems); clarity, cohesion, and conciseness; correct use of MLA format; and grammar and spelling.

Essay Map

Introduction

Lead

Difficulties of being a parent: balancing children's freedom with teaching responsibility
Briefly explain Freud's explanation of the development of the ego through learning to balance the id and superego (define terms using Siegfried article)

Thesis

"The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury (examines, explores, reveals, illustrates) [the consequences of the parents indulging their children (and themselves) by technology meeting all of their desires without teaching the children responsibility] -- Do not use this exact wording, but your thesis should reflect these ideas. Focus on stating the thesis as clearly and concisely as possible.

Body

Topic Sentences

The topic sentences for this essay should be arguments that explain

Ways in which the children have been indulged and pampered
Efforts of parents to impose restrictions
Consequences

Supporting Details

Use details from the articles by Bernardo and Kattleman to support arguments about what is happening in the story.
Explore the significance of details that seem symbolic of the conflicts between the parents and children
Explore the motivations of the parents both in indulging the children and in attempting to impose restrictions
Examine the nature of decisions the parents make and the consequences of their choices
Relate how dialogue, events, actions, and objects are significant in revealing the id/superego conflicts within the story
Examine how the technology helps facilitate the ways in which the parents have indulged the children (and themselves)
Explore indicators within the story that reveal the children's motivations and feelings

Conclusion

How is this story significant, important, relevant, or valuable for parents raising children? What is the significance of the final scene with regard to the conflicts within the story?