Thursday, January 7, 2010

In what way has the house infantalized the Hadleys in "The Veldt"?

The house takes care of the Hadley family’s every need. 


The Hadley family paid a fortune for the technological marvel that is their house.  The house is an automated smart home of sorts, but it does much more than most of our houses do today.  The house has so much technology that it seems to meet almost all of the family’s needs. 



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. 



When your house does everything for you, it is infantilizing you.  Even this description seems to make the Hadley family seem more like babies than adults and half-grown children.  The house is babying them. 


Mrs. Hadley gets a little saddened because she feels as if the house has taken over the role she once played, as mother and caregiver.  She feels replaced and useless.  This makes her also feel less connected to her children. 



"That's just it. I feel like I don't belong here. The house is wife and mother now, and nursemaid. Can I compete with an African veldt? Can I give a bath and scrub the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic scrub bath can? I cannot. And it isn't just me. It's you. You've been awfully nervous lately."



In fact, the Hadleys rely on the fancy nursery to keep their children entertained.  They do not feel comfortable around the nursery because they see disturbing images.  Mr. Hadley even brings in a psychologist to help him figure out what is happening to his children. 



“… Trust my hunches and my instincts. I have a nose for something bad. This is very bad. My advice to you is to have the whole damn room torn down and your children brought to me every day during the next year for treatment." 



The psychologist tells them that the room is a channel toward destructive thoughts.  It is the culmination of the technological smothering.  The children have retreated into their own minds in the nursery, and their minds are a disturbing place.

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