“The Veldt” and “Presents,Presents,Presents”

By: Haniyah Bilal

Have you ever felt trapped because of your own or somebody else’s spoiled behavior? In both texts “Presents,Presents,Presents” and “The Veldt” the children are trapped in their own spoiled behavior. In the poem “Presents,Presents,Presents”by Shel Silverstein ,the child is blinded with the sight of gifts and later realizes that it’s not as great as it seemed. In the short story “The Veldt” the children are spoiled in a technology-filled and operating house and when there parents decide to turn off the nursery, the children kill them.In the poem  “Presents,Presents, Presents” the child is trapped physically due to the child’s greediness for worldly gains and being spoiled.In the short story  “The Veldt” the children are mentally trapped because they are not able to see further than their nursery thus they cannot see their parents goodwill for them.So, in both texts the children’s spoiled behavior is blocking them from seeing the goodwill of everybody else around them.While in the Veldt the children’s conscience is blinded by their spoiled behavior and in the poem “Presents,Presents,Presents” the child is blinded with the sight of gifts and childish greed takes over.

In the poem “Presents,Presents,Presents” the child realizes that the presents aren’t as good as he thought they would be and they start blocking him from reaching his full potential and going outside.In the short story “The Veldt” the children’s intelligence is put to waste on something evil when it could have been used in school or other places of good. This affects both the children’s academic lives drastically.For example in the poem “Presents,Presents,Presents” it says “And I can’t get to school” which obviously affects the child’s education. If the child cannot go to school to learn, he cannot get an education and this affects his academic life. This shows how his spoiled behavior ruins his academics.

An example of the children’s intelligence in the short story “The Veldt” is when Lydia, the mother says “He’s a wise one for ten. That I.Q of his-”. This goes to show that he is very intelligent and definitely has potential. However due his upbringing he is spoiled and doesn’t use his intelligence for moral and beneficial reasons.In both texts both children had potential but due to their spoiled nature unfortunately could not succeed in using it in a moral and beneficial manner.

In the short story “The Veldt” the children are blinded by their love for the machines in their house. The children’s greed takes control over their instincts and changes their personalities and makes their vision different. The children stop seeing the positivity in the people around them and this leads to their personal morals being destroyed.An example of the children’s blindness and care only for machinery that changes their behavior would be, “ The children were in hysterics.They screamed and pranced and threw things.” They’re spoiled behavior leads them to blindness that traps them.Their rotten upbringing causes them to become trapped in their own spoiled behavior.

Similarly in the poem “Presents,Presents,Presents” the child’s spoiled behavior actually physically traps him. It says in the poem “But I got so many presents….I can’t get anywhere”. This shows how the gifts are blocking him from moving. This is a consequence of his spoiled behavior. Since he was mollycoddled he became spoiled and when he saw all the gifts he became greedy and his greediness trapped him and now he can’t go out of his room.So, the child is physically trapped and confined within his own room.  

Overall, both children from both text are negatively impacted by their spoiled behavior. They are trapped inside their own spoiled behavior and cannot look farther.So, dear reader what would you if someone you knew was being  destroyed by their own spoiled behavior and greed? Does being mollycoddled make some bad? Whose fault is it in spoiling a person, the person themselves or an outside source?