SETTING
What is the nursery, and what does it do?
A special room that creates realistic worlds from the children’s thoughts
Who are the main characters in the story?
George and Lydia Hadley, their children Peter and Wendy.
What first makes Lydia worried about the nursery in the beginning of the story?
It keeps showing the violent African veldt.
What does "automaticity" mean in the story?
Working on its own.
What does "message of the story" mean?
The main idea or lesson the author wants to teach the reader.
Where does the nursery usually take George and Lydia when they enter it?
To an African veldt with lions, vultures, and heat.
How do Peter and Wendy react when the nursery is turned off?
They become angry, hysterical, and threatening.
At the end, the psychologist arrives to take the children away. What does he find?
Children calmly drinking tea, lions eating something.
What does the word "pattern" mean?
Something repeated / happens again.
What message does Bradbury give about technology and parenting?
Parents should set limits to the use of technology/be more involved with children
Why does Lydia feel that the house has replaced her role as a mother?
The house cooks, cleans, bathes, and cares for the children instead of her.
Why the parents are talking about themselves as also "spoiled"
Because they depend on technology to do everything for them.
Why does the nursery NOT respond to George’s commands when he asks it to show Alladin?
The children’s thoughts control it / it is stuck on Africa.
What does the word "tampering" mean?
Interfering with something
How does technology affect the children’s behavior?
It increases violence, dependence, and emotional coldness.
Name one example when the house is described as something alive.
"Nothing ever likes to die"/ "Mechanical cemetry"/ "Don't let kill everything"
Give three adjectives that describe Peter's behaviour
Cold / threatening / manipulative / disobedient and similar
Who most likely put George’s wallet in the nursery, and why?
Peter and Wendy, to threaten their parents / train the lions for their smell
What does the word "neurosis" mean?
emotional or mental condition causing anxiety/ mental instability
“Children are carpets, they should be stepped on occasionally.” Explain.
Children need limits; too much freedom makes them spoiled.
What kind of technology in the nursery is odorophonics?
It is the simulation of smells
Why does psychologist say that George and Lydia changed from “Santa Claus” to “Scrooge”
Because before they allowed everything and now they started to set limits.
“I don’t want to do anything but..." Continue what Peter says to his father at the end of Part II.
"...but look and listen and smell; what else is there to do?” or similar wording
What are "emanations" in the nursery?
Thoughts coming from the children’s minds.
Give two examples of foreshadowing from the story.
The lions eating, the screams, the wallet, the psychologist’s warning.