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Exposition
The story opens with a conversation between the two parents, George and Lydia. They are discussing whether they should keep the nursery or not because it is affecting their children's behavior. The setting is introduced to the audience, which is inside the parent's Happylife Home. There is no indication of a date or time period in which it was set. The main characters, George, Lydia, Wendy, and Peter. -
Rising Action I
George and Lydia check out the nursery because of their kids' behaviors. They hear screams and then were chased out of the nursery because the lions were running at them. George explains to his wife that "crystal walls, that's all they are". This is forshadowing of what is to come in stroy. -
Rising Action II
After their experience with the nursery, the parents decided to lock up the nursery because the children were being obsessive about the nursery. They were afraid that the nursery was becoming the children's reality. They also decide to begin to live more like a working family and do regular chores without the house. -
Rising Action III
The parents eat at the dinner table and think about the room and why the kids are so attracted to the room. They then go up to the nursery to try to figure it out. By putting their previous knowledge of the room to the test, the parents realize that the nursery had adapted to the kids and their ways because of how much time they had spent in the room and the knowledge they had of the African lands in which the room is set. The room is almost trying to protect and keep the kids. -
Rising Action IV
Wendy and Peter return that night to their parents informing them that the nursery is out of order. The parents ask them about the nursery and Africa, but the children deny the parents' suggestions. George asks Wendy to check the nursery to see about Africa, but as the whole family reaches the nursery, the scenery had been changed to a forest. The parents sent the kids to bed, then locked the nursery door. -
Rising Action V
The parents discuss the way that the scenery changed in the nursery earlier that evening. They decide that the nursery is staying locked until George finds out why the children changed the scenery. They then try to figure out what is wrong with their parenting and why the children are disobeying them. The parents hear screams from the nursery and realize that the children had broken into the nursery. -
Rising Action VI
Peter asks George if he is going to lock up the nursery. George explains to Peter that it depends on the way that the children play and if they are playing within reasonable limits. George then tells Peter that they might be going back to being a normal family and doing chores. Peter expresses his disgust with this concept and then walks away to go play in the nursery. -
Climax
A new character, David McClean, is introduced to the story. He is a psychologist, and has been summoned by George and Lydia to check out the nursery and how it has changed. After a long conversation about the history of the nursery and what has been happening with the kids, both the parents and David agree that the room should be shut down for good. -
Climax I
The children got angry about the nursery being shut down and want to go in one more time. George, after Lydia and children beg him, finally gives in and opens the nursery for the kids for a minute. The children play in the nursery for a few moments, then call the parents into the nursery. George and Lydia end up locked in the nursery by their kids and get eaten by the lions that came alive in the room. -
Falling Action & Resolution
David McClean shows up at the house and sees the chidren without their parents at the table. When asked about where the parents are at, the kids say "Oh, they will be here directly". Mr. McClean notices the lions in the nursery are feeding on something, and it is inferred that he figures out that the parents were eaten by the lions.
