Amongst the entirety of the story, Ettil is faced with many decisions, the first being whether to help invade Earth or to be executed by fire for treason. On page 212, the assignor states, “You have a choice, Ettil Vrye. Join the Legion of War, or burn.” This is an example of difficult, while important, decisions he is forced to make. Ettil could either die or support a cause he is unwilling to comply with. At first, Ettil decides that he would rather die than go to war with Earth, claiming that he would die either way, but he changes his mind, however, when he sees the blazing pit. Another example of decision making in “The Concrete Mixer” is the Earthlings’ reaction to the invasion. On page 216, the Earth’s people welcome the Martians with open arms, and greet them with pageant winners, drinks, and celebration, rather than preparing for war. Earth could have countered the Martians with defense of their own, but instead chose the diplomatic, while also more risky path given the circumstances. One final example of decision making is Ettil’s predicament at the end of the story about his future. After discussing with Rick, Ettil is faced with the decision to either go back to Mars and be with his family and continue his usual, more comfortable life or take the deal of a lifetime and be the technical director of a film. Ettil is extraordinarily …show more content…
Although technology is helpful, when it is overused for the wrong reasons, it can interfere with family life. For example in “The Veldt,” after too much reliance on the computerized house, Peter and Wendy no longer have the parent-child bond. They never take family vacations because the kids have the world at their fingertips in the nursery. Similarly in “Marionettes Inc.,” Braling relies on Braling Two too much, so it it interferes with the little connection he had with his wife. Another example of the misconduct caused by technology is the way that both machines ended up turning on the characters. For example in “The Veldt,” the nursery was helpful at first, but with chronic, unhealthy usage, the nursery eventually lead Peter and Wendy to do such an evil deed. Likewise in “Marionettes Inc.,” Braling Two was of help in the beginning, but after spending days if not weeks in a box, he was eventually driven to kill Braling One. In both stories, after mistreatment of the technology, things took a turn for the worst and resulted in death. On the contrary, however, the technology in both stories shows a few benefits. For example, in “The Veldt,” the technology is used to make life much easier. They no longer have to deal with cleaning or preparing meals, and Peter and Wendy can now magically see