Hello, bookworms,
Today we are discussing an interesting short story by Ray Bradbury. It is called “The Veldt”.
As usual, I ask you to pick up your role.
I am looking forward to your comments, vocabulary lists, questions, insights about the story.
4 comments
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Chat part 1:
19:07:10 From Ivan Korjavin : Recently I read an interview with Bradbury dated 2004 or so
19:08:10 From Diana Yarmolinska : The author is scared of gadgets
19:09:09 From Diana Yarmolinska : ascetic
19:09:20 From Teacher Lee : ascetic – a person with minimal needs
19:09:33 From Teacher Lee : an austere or Spartan existence
19:11:40 From Ivan Korjavin : Lin, please summarize a story
19:11:43 From Diana Yarmolinska : summarize the story, please
19:12:36 From Teacher Lee : Peter and Wendy
19:12:49 From Teacher Lee : High-tech nursery
19:12:50 From Diana Yarmolinska : high-tech nursery
19:12:56 From Teacher Lee : a “holodeck”
19:13:15 From Teacher Lee : holographic images generated from the children’s thoughts
19:13:27 From Teacher Lee : sights, sounds, and smells
19:13:34 From Teacher Lee : dreamland for children
19:14:12 From Diana Yarmolinska : children become too dependant on the nursery
19:14:18 From Teacher Lee : Kids viewed the nursery as more important in their lives than their parents.
19:14:20 From Diana Yarmolinska : they hated their parents
19:14:55 From Teacher Lee : They resented their parents’ limits placed on their use of the nursery.
19:15:54 From Teacher Lee : The dad saw the harm that the technology was causing.
19:16:29 From Teacher Lee : The scenes of death in the veldt scene concerned the parents regarding their children’s fascination with death.
19:17:01 From Teacher Lee : The kids had to kill the psychologist.
19:17:31 From neuromantic : t
19:17:54 From Vasanth : t
19:18:11 From Teacher Lee : The kids became sociopaths, became addicted to the nursery.
19:18:32 From Teacher Lee : Don’t spoil your kids!
19:18:51 From Teacher Lee : Saying: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”
19:19:11 From Teacher Lee : t
19:20:00 From Ivan Korjavin : Lin, mute please
19:21:43 From Thein Lin Aung : C
19:21:59 From Teacher Lee : Why did the fixate on the veldt scene?
19:22:36 From Vasanth : They didn’t let them go to Newyork?
19:24:26 From Thein Lin Aung : The child Peter was smart.
19:25:04 From Teacher Lee : Peter was precocious with a talent for IT things.
19:25:18 From Ivan Korjavin : knife is more effective
19:25:44 From neuromantic : t
19:25:52 From Teacher Lee : Your computer-controlled sauna will lock you inside and “cook” you like a lobster.
19:26:49 From Teacher Lee : In this story though, the nursery was the kids’ only weapon.
19:27:18 From Teacher Lee : Playroom…
19:28:28 From Teacher Lee : Nursing = taking care of; like a babysitter
19:28:59 From Teacher Lee : It’s coming.
19:29:03 From Teacher Lee : It’s almost here
19:29:16 From Teacher Lee : The “Internet of Things” (IoT).
19:29:25 From Diana Yarmolinska : ‘smart houses’
19:29:39 From Teacher Lee : Not smart enough yet…
19:32:39 From Teacher Lee : Deficit resources
19:32:58 From Teacher Lee : Supply and demand…
19:33:02 From Teacher Lee : competition
19:33:08 From Teacher Lee : The big fish eat the small fish.
19:35:00 From Teacher Lee : Smart homes are happening now.
19:35:24 From Teacher Lee : VR is my next fear.
19:35:42 From Teacher Lee : t
19:36:44 From Ivan Korjavin : avatar movie – same idea
19:37:09 From Vasanth : “Pokemon Go” is an example of that VR evolution.
chat part 2:
19:38:41 From Teacher Lee : American culture: “Last one in is a rotten egg!”
19:39:21 From Teacher Lee : The rat’s pleasure center was overstimulated…
19:39:27 From Teacher Lee : until it died.
19:40:21 From Teacher Lee : South Korean’s have starved to death playing for days continuously.
19:40:46 From Ivan Korjavin : burned
19:40:53 From Teacher Lee : Addiction
19:43:26 From Diana Yarmolinska : other themes?
19:43:36 From Diana Yarmolinska : technology
19:43:39 From Diana Yarmolinska : family relations
19:49:17 From Diana Yarmolinska : overkill
19:50:20 From neuromantic : scrooge
19:52:14 From Teacher Lee : Scrooge was a selfish, stingy, cheap old man.
Cold turkey, go off of technology.
19:52:27 From Teacher Lee : Found a chewed-up wallet
19:52:29 From Diana Yarmolinska : chewed
19:53:49 From Teacher Lee : addictions – you can wean off gradually or stop cold turkey (suddenly, all at once)
19:54:21 From Diana Yarmolinska : cold turkey
19:55:38 From Teacher Lee : (BE?)
19:56:21 From Vasanth : persecuted?
19:56:25 From Teacher Lee : “Paranoia is thick around here today,” said David McClean. “You can follow it like a spoor. Hello.” He bent and picked up a bloody scarf. “This yours?”
19:58:41 From Teacher Lee : a thin decorative head scarf, like a hijab.
19:59:21 From Teacher Lee : women wrap a scarf around the neck
19:59:28 From Ivan Korjavin : babushka
19:59:50 From Teacher Lee : A colorful scarf adds a “flash of color” to a woman’s ensemble.
20:00:08 From Thein Lin Aung : C
20:01:21 From Teacher Lee : Like a hunting dog,
20:01:27 From Teacher Lee : smell this, go get them.
20:02:05 From Teacher Lee : 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 machines, 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.
20:04:09 From Vasanth : like our laptop fan
20:04:17 From Ivan Korjavin : bees
20:04:37 From Vasanth : mosquitos buzz?
20:05:05 From Ivan Korjavin : squeal
20:05:23 From Teacher Lee : motors and people hum
20:05:27 From Teacher Lee : bees buzz
20:05:34 From Teacher Lee : pigs squeal
20:05:57 From Vasanth : children before getting injection. they squel.
20:06:21 From Teacher Lee : He’s squealing like a pig.
20:07:01 From Teacher Lee : Take away the smart phone.
20:07:07 From Teacher Lee : OMG! I’ll die!!!!!
20:09:02 From Teacher Lee : The vultures were dropping down the blazing sky.
20:09:25 From Teacher Lee : Eat fresh kills.
20:09:27 From Teacher Lee : fresh meat
20:09:48 From Teacher Lee : “A cup of tea?” asked Wendy in the silence.
Here you can find Ivan’s wordlist
An interesting story, Diana. Good choice!