Summary and Revision Notes of The Fun They Had (Summary, Character Sketch and Word Meanings)
Character Sketch
Margie: Margie is a little girl of 11 years, is living in 22nd century and has a habit of writing diary entry. She has a friend named Tommy who brings a book which is very old. She is taught by a mechanical teacher at her home. She hates school and her mechanical teacher. She is willing to know about old day’s schools and their teachers from Tommy.
Tommy: Tommy is about 13 year old who is Margie’s friend finds a book in his house. He brings it to Margie and tells her about old schools. He knows all about old schools and their teachers.
Mechanical Teacher: A robot that has black and ugly look. All the lessons are shown and the questions are asked on its big screen. It has a slot in which Margie has to put her homework in punching code.
County Inspector: A round little man with red face has a box of tools, dials and wires. He comes to set Margie’s television where the geography sector was gearing too little quickly.
Summary of the Chapter
Margie writes her diary
Margie even wrote about the book in her diary on the page headed 17 May 2157 that today Tommy found a real book. That book was very old. Margie’s grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him about a time when all stories were printed on paper. They turned the pages of the book. These were wrinkled and yellow. They found it strange as word also stood still. They did not move on the screen as they do now.
Telebooks
Tommy called it waste because after reading book, they threw it away. Their television screen have very big to have too many books. Margie also agreed with it although she had not seen many telebooks. Tommy was thirteen while Margie was eleven.
Reason of Margie’s hatred for school
Margie asked him where he had found that book .He replied that he found that in his house and it was about school. Margie always hated school but now she hated it more than ever as her mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse.
Margie’s mother sent for the county inspector
Margie’s mother sent her geography teacher to the county inspector who was a round little man. He had a red face and a box of tools, dials and wires. Margie had hoped he wouldn’t know how to put it together but he set the Margie’s television right .The part Margie hated most was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers. She always had to write them out in a punch code they made her learn when she was six years old, and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks in no time. The Inspector had smiled after he was finished and patted Margie’s head. He told her mother that it was not Margie’s fault but the geography sector of mechanical teacher was geared a little too quick and he had slowed that to, an average ten-year level.
Tommy tells Margie about old school
When Margie asked Tommy about old school he looked at her with very superior eyes. He told her that it was not their kind of school. That is the old kind of school that they had hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
Why Margie feels hurt?
Margie was hurt because she didn’t know about the old schools. When she read the books over Tommy’s shoulder then she said that they had a teacher anyway. Tommy replied that sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.
Explanation about old schools and their students
In the old schools, the teacher told the boys and girls things and gave homework and also asked them questions. Margie argued that a man couldn’t be smart enough but Tommy said that he knows almost as much. Tommy told that the teachers didn’t live in the house. They had a special building and all the kids went there. All the kids learned the same thing if they were the same age.
Margie’s school time
Margie went into the schoolroom. It was right next to her bedroom, and the mechanical teacher was on and waiting for her. It was always on at the same time every day except Saturday and Sunday, because her mother said little girls learned better if they learned at regular hour.
Margie’s thinking about old school
Margie put her homework in the slot with a sigh. She was thinking about the old schools they had when her grandfather’s grandfather was a little boy. All the kids from the whole neighborhood came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the schoolroom, she was thinking about the old schools they had when her grandfather’s grandfather was a little boy. All the kids from the whole neighborhood came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the schoolroom. Margie was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. She was thinking about the fun they had.
