The Veldt

Open Ended

If you had a virtual reality room that you could go anywhere and do anything in, what is one APPROPRIATE thing you would want to do?

​Metaphor Hyperbole
Simile Meiosis
Alliteration Allusion
Onomatopoeia Idiom
Personification

Multiple Choice

Imagine a world where children can create any environment they want using technology.

What is one potential BENEFIT of this?

• Children may become bored easily

• Children can explore their creativity in new ways

• Children will stop learning new things

• Children will avoid using technology

Multiple Choice

How might a highly automated home negatively affect family relationships?

• It could encourage more face-to-face communication

• It might reduce the need for family members to interact with each other

• It would make everyone more dependent on each other

• It would have no effect on relationships

​We are going to read a second Ray Bradbury story, "The Veldt" in Actively Learn. This is a longer text, with 15 multiple choice questions.

​Work Period

Match

Match the event to the part of the plot

• They walked down the hall of their soundproofed Happylife Home, which had cost them thirty thousand dollars installed, this house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them.

• “I’m afraid.” She came to him and put her body against him and cried steadily. “Did you see? Did you feel? It’s too real.” “Now, Lydia...” “You’ve got to tell Wendy and Peter not to read any more on Africa.” “Of course — of course.” He patted her. “Promise?” “Sure.” “And lock the nursery for a few days until I get my nerves settled.” “You know how difficult Peter is about that. When I punished him a month ago by locking the nursery for even a few hours — the tantrum be threw! And Wendy too. They live for the nursery.”

• The door slammed. “Wendy, Peter!” George Hadley and his wife whirled and ran back to the door. “Open the door!” cried George Hadley, trying the knob. “Why, they’ve locked it from the outside! Peter!” He beat at the door. “Open up!” He heard Peter’s voice outside, against the door. “Don’t let them switch off the nursery and the house,” he was saying. Mr. and Mrs. George Hadley beat at the door. “Now, don’t be ridiculous, children. It’s time to go. Mr. McClean’ll be here in a minute and...” And then they heard the sounds. The lions on three sides of them, in the yellow veldt grass, padding through the dry straw, rumbling and roaring in their throats. The lions.

• “Well, here I am,” said David McClean in the nursery doorway, “Oh, hello.” He stared at the two children seated in the center of the open glade eating a little picnic lunch. Beyond them was the water hole and the yellow veldtland; above was the hot sun. He began to perspire. “Where are your father and mother?”

• He squinted at the lions with his hand tip to his eyes. Now the lions were done feeding. They moved to the water hole to drink. A shadow flickered over Mr. McClean’s hot face. Many shadows flickered. The vultures were dropping down the blazing sky. “A cup of tea?” asked Wendy in the silence.

Exposition

Rising Action

Climax

Falling Action

Resolution

• Exposition

• Rising Action

• Climax

• Falling Action

• Resolution

Multiple Choice

Wendy was still crying and Peter joined her again. “Just a moment, just one moment, just another moment of nursery,” they wailed. “Oh, George,” said the wife, “it can’t hurt.” “All right — all right, if they’ll just shut up. One minute, mind you, and then off forever.” “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” sang the children, smiling with wet faces. “And then we’re going on a vacation. David McClean is coming back in half an hour to help us move out and get to the airport. I’m going to dress. You turn the nursery on for a minute, Lydia, just a minute, mind you.”

What word BEST describes George?

• Spoiled

• Strict

• Overindulgent

• Hurtful

Multiple Choice

“I’ll be glad when we get away,” she sighed. “Did you leave them in the nursery?” “I wanted to dress too. Oh, that horrid Africa. What can they see in it?” “Well, in five minutes we’ll be on our way to Iowa. Lord, how did we ever get in this house? What prompted us to buy a nightmare?” “Pride, money, foolishness.”

"Pride, money, foolishness" are acknowledged by the parents as negative characters traits. What other character trait BEST fits them here?

• Negligent

• Lazy

• Powerful

• Greedy

Multiple Choice

And he marched about the house turning off the voice clocks, the stoves, the heaters, the shoe shiners, the shoe lacers, the body scrubbers and swabbers and massagers, and every other machine be could put his hand to. The house was full of dead bodies, it seemed. It felt like a mechanical cemetery. So silent. None of the humming hidden energy of machines waiting to function at the tap of a button.

What are the "dead bodies" in this excerpt?

• The children

• The parents

• The house

• The appliances

Multiple Choice

Which one of the following is NOT an example of foreshadowing in the story?

• "They almost got us!" Lydia says when the lions run towards them at the beginning of the story.
• At dinner they ate alone, for Wendy and Peter were at a special plastic carnival.
• "What is that?" Lydia asked.  "An old wallet of mine . . . there were drops of saliva on it. . ."
• "Those screams- they sound familiar."

Multiple Choice

What can be inferred by the following line from the end of the story?

 "And suddenly they realized why those other screams had sounded familiar."

• They heard the screams of the children

• They heard the scream of vultures

• They heard the lions dying in the virtual world

• They heard their own screams

Multiple Choice

How does personification contribute to the story in 'The Veldt'?

• To contrast idyllic nature with tragic events

• To create suspense and engage readers in anticipating the outcome

• To create mental pictures and enhance readers' understanding

• To blur the line between technology and humanity

Multiple Choice

When the parents ask Peter and Wendy why the nursery is stuck in Africa, the children say, "There's no Africa in the nursery."  Then, Wendy runs to the nursery, and comes back declaring there is no Africa scene in the nursery.  Based on the fact that the parents saw Africa earlier, what can be inferred about the children's answer?

• The nursery is broken and no one knows it.
• The children are lying, and Wendy ran ahead to change the room scene.
• The parents are causing Africa to show on the walls.
• Peter is innocent. Wendy is to blame for the scene of Africa.

Multiple Choice

Which one of the following DOES NOT contain a message the author wanted to project in this story?

• Spoiled children can be violent.
• The children of the future should be allowed to create without restrictions.
• Humans should not allow technology to control them.
• Parents must have and maintain rules for their children.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following literary devices is being used in this quote?

"'I don't imagine the room will like being turned off.'"

• Imagery
• Personification
• Allusion
• Simile

Multiple Choice

The following quote is an example of which literary device?:

"Cheeks like peppermint candy, eyes like bright blue agate marbles"

• Metaphor

• Simile

• Personification

• Foreshadowing

Multiple Choice

Why did Ray Bradbury use vultures in the story?

• He couldn't find a blue bird

• The vultures symbolize death

• The vultures represent happiness

• Bluebirds symbolize bad luck

Multiple Choice

The following quote is an example of which literary device?:

"This house... clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them."

• Personification

• Metaphor

• Simile

• Allusion

Multiple Choice

What is a central message presented in this story?

• Too much technology can come with heavy consequences
• Parents needs to be more loving towards their children
• Raising a well behaved child is very hard work
• The future generations are doomed