The Hadley family lives in a fully automated Happylife Home, where machines cook, clean, and even soothe them to sleep. At the heart of the house is the nursery, a vast simulation chamber that turns a child's thoughts into vivid landscapes—but lately, George and Lydia Hadley have noticed that their children's minds keep returning to the same unsettling place: the African veldt, complete with lions, heat, and distant screams.
As the parents struggle to understand why Wendy and Peter are so fixated on this harsh landscape, the nursery's realism becomes impossible to dismiss. The veldt is no longer a harmless fantasy but a window into emotions their children refuse to express out loud, forcing the Hadleys to confront how thoroughly they've surrendered their roles to the house's machines.
Ray Bradbury—one of the most influential voices in 20th-century science fiction—explores technology, family, and responsibility with powerful clarity. His work blends poetic storytelling with sharp warnings about convenience, automation, and the human cost of giving too much away to machines.
Known for Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and dozens of iconic short stories, Bradbury shaped modern speculative fiction. "The Veldt" is an early example of his talent for mixing wonder with tension, showing how imagination, when untended, can reveal more truth than comfort.