“The Veldt” and “The Commuter” are both similar in that they are both about seemingly normal, everyday people who are caught off-guard and have their lives being drastically effected the world that is changing around them. What separates these two stories is, obviously, how the world and the technology around them starts effecting their lives. For example, in “The Veldt”, we have the Hadley family who have a machine known as the “nursery” in their house that allows their children to conjure up any type of world they want and play in it as long and however they want. However, we come to realize that this machine is doing more harm than good for the children and this machine ends up being their parents’ demise. “The Commuter” follows a man named Paine whose life completely changes when he realizes that history is being altered right before his eyes and things are appearing and disappearing everywhere he goes. As you can see, both stories involve normal people whose lives are changed in almost an instant by the technology of their time.
There is not much to take away from “The Commuter” as it is a story that is dealing with time travel and the ability to go in the past and completely change the way the present is as you know it. I think the story may be trying to get at the idea that life can come at you fast and sometimes things can just happen, but it is up to us as humans to accept the world around us and keep living our lives, even when it keeps changing everyday. However, “The Veldt” has a lot of great points to take away from it and gets at in issue that is very relevant today. “The Veldt” sees the two children have their view and perception of life slowly be altered not just by the nursery and its mechanics, but all the technology around them. They have machines that tie their shoes, brush their teeth, and even prepare their food and although this type of technology can be impressive, it shows just how negatively it can effect humans, especially children. “The Veldt” shows us how if we allow technology to do the things that use to require us to exert energy and move, and even think, then we slowly become entitled and pampered. We see how the children, Peter and Wendy, start to view the technology as their real parents instead of their real, biological parents, George and Lydia. “The Veldt” shows how technology can cause some people to lose touch with reality and the real world around them and have their mind altered to live in a world that is not real.
“The Veldt” definitely wants us to see its world as one that our world can become. In the modern world, kids are glued to their phones and Ipads that offer them hours of entertainment and service, so much so that they may begin to feel like their is no point in turning it off since the real world may just seem boring in comparison. It is a scary thought, but it is important that we all appreciate the world around us, the natural world, for all of its flaws and strengths. “The Commuter” makes us see its world as a world that can easily be changed by one decision. It shows just how much can happen when someone or a group of people make a decision in their lives and just how much that decision can effect other, both good and bad.
I agree that “The Veldt” is giving us insight on a possibility of what our world can become if we’re not careful, especially with the children growing up in this technologically advanced world.
Okay, I do agree with the last paragraph. Especially about the Veldt. I’ve been making some changes to my relationship with technology to reflect that actually. Just cutting down a lot on mobile phone use really. How would you go about encouraging kids to separate themselves from screens in a world that will inevitably become less about interacting outside of technology?
The challenge smartphones create, allowing people to disassociate from the world, is a true epidemic. Ignoring each other, and their surrounding, making their virtual reality their main reality. People looking for validation in an imaginary world, rather that in the real one.