What aspects of contemporary family life do the "Happylife Home" and the nursery satirize? What exactly have the Hadleys "purchased" for their...

The
Happylife Home and nursery in "" satirize the inventions of the early 20th Century
that made life more convenient for many Americans and the rise of television, which became a
regular household item about the time the story was published in 1950. 

It's
important to look at the history surrounding the writing and publication of "The
Veldt." The early 20th Century saw a boom in the creation of items that made life in
America easier. Automobiles, radios, televisions, escalators, air conditioning, refrigerators,
and electric washing machines were all invented in the decades beforewrote this
story. 

In "The Veldt," Bradbury takes the convenience created in
this part of the century and extrapolates what might happen in the near future. This is how the
Happylife Home and nursery are created. The Happylife Home offers the Hadleys convenience. The
narrator says, "the house clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and
was good to them." 

Unfortunately, for the Hadleys, the family has
become completely dependent on the home.

When George suggests they shut off
the house entirely, Lydia, the wife, says the following:

"[Y]ou'll have to change your life. Like too many others, you've built it around
creature comforts. Why, you'd starve tomorrow if something went wrong in the kitchen. You
wouldn't know how to tap an egg."

This dependence on
household items has continued today. Cell phones, computers and cable television have becomes
items originally created for convenience into things that have become crutches for people.
Removing these items from peoples' hands can be a traumatic experience. This is why "The
Veldt" remains relevant today.