In "The Veldt," Lydia asks her husband, "What promoted us to buy a nightmare?" He responds, "Pride, money, foolishness." What does he mean when he...

The nightmare that George refers to is the $30,000 Happylife House he and his wife have purchased. In hindsight, as his children turn into spoiled monsters, he can see that the house reflected pride, because the couple thought the newest, most technologically advanced home would provide them with all the advantages that other people didn't have. It never occured to them that the house would control them, not they the house. Money motivated them to believe they could buy happiness through an expensive commodity ($30,000 was a vast amount of money to spend on a house in the 1950s) that would take care of their every need. They were foolish because they thought that technology could solve their problems. They believed everything would turn out fine if they let a nursery and giant television screens raise their children. They discovered  too late that the "easy" life the house had lured them into was a trap that left them feeling useless (especially Lydia), helpless and alienated from their increasingly sociopathic children.