“The Veldt”
Study Questions, Answers
1. Why did Lydia begin to feel
unnecessary as wife and mother?
“The house is wife and mother now,
and nursemaid. Can I compete with
an African veldt?”
Lydia feels that technology is
replacing her, and she no longer
has a role to play in the family.
2. What is one specific way the Hadley’s
continued to spoil their children even after
they realized that there was something
wrong with the nursery?
“They’ve broken into the nursery.”
Even though the children have
broken into the nursery when
their parents locked it, there was
no punishment for them. This
spoiled the children.
3. Why didn’t the nursery respond to
George’s request for Aladdin and his lamp?
“…it can’t respond because the children have
thought about Africa and lions and killing so
many days that the room’s in a rut.”
Lydia thinks that the room is in a rut
because the children have thought about
Africa so long. It does seem that the
technology has gotten out of control and
only listened to the children, not the
adults.
4. Why did the parents go back to sleep
even though they knew the children
disobeyed and broke into the nursery?
“A moment later they heard the screams…and
then a roar of lions...”
The parents heard screaming coming from the
nursery, and realized that the screams
sounded familiar. The husband “lay in his bed
with his beating heart,” which makes it sound
like he was simply too scared to get out of
bed. They know something bad is going on,
but they are too scared to find out.
5. Why did they call in a psychologist even
though they had the power to turn off the
nursery themselves?
“Have a look at our nursery.You saw it a year ago
when you dropped by; did you notice anything
peculiar about it then?”
The parents call the psychologist in to confirm
their suspicions. They are afraid that
something is deeply wrong with their children,
but they need to have it confirmed by a
professional.
6. Why did Mrs. Hadley, who had been so
frightened of the nursery, urge George to
let the kids have it on for one last time?
“Oh, George,” said the wife, “it can’t hurt.”
Mrs. Hadley believes that even though the
nursery is becomingly terrifyingly real, just a
few more minutes can’t hurt, because she
thinks the main damage has already been
done. She doesn’t believe that anything can be
hurt more than it already has.
7. Why were Wendy and Peter so apathetic
over the death of their parents at the end?
“You’ve let this room and this house replace you
and your wife in your children’s affections. This
room is their mother and father, far more
important in their lives than their real parents.”
As Dr. McLean explained, the kids are totally
emotionally separated from their parents.
The only “parent” they care about is the
nursery, nothing else is as real to them as
that room.
8. What were some of the mistakes the
parents made in raising their children?
“We’ve given the children everything they ever
wanted. Is this our reward—secrecy,
disobedience? They come and go when they like;
they treat us as if we were offspring.”
The parents made the mistake of thinking that
spending a lot of money on their kids and
giving them everything were the most
important things. They created spoiled, selfish
children because they never said “no” to the
kids.