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    The Fun They Had

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    tharunika.27910

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The Fun They Had

    Uploaded by

    tharunika.27910
    41 views3 pages

    Original Title

    THE FUN THEY HAD

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as pdf or txt
    41 views3 pages

    The Fun They Had

    Uploaded by

    tharunika.27910

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    You are on page 1of 3

    BEEHIVE

    THE FUN THEY HAD - NOTES

    THEME: The main theme in the short story is education, specifically, it deals with the future of
    education which will become increasingly computerized and estranged from social interactions.

    Characters

    Margie: Margie is 11 years old and is a student. Margie is fed up with studying. She doesn't
    want to be taught by robots. Instead, she wants to go to school and have a physical book to learn
    from.

    Tommy: Tommy is 13 years old and is a student. He is interested in reading old books. He is
    always reading and looking for things to do. Both Margie and Tommy are tired of robots and
    actually want to go to school.

    Margie’s Mechanical Teacher: This is a robot (created from future technology) that teaches
    Margie subjects, on a large and black ugly screen on which the lessons are shown and questions
    are asked.

    Margie’s County Inspector: Margie’s mechanical teacher gave tests over and over again in
    geography. At the same time, Margie kept doing worse. The county inspector took the
    mechanical teacher apart and slowed the teaching to a 10-year level.

    Margie's Mom (Mrs Jones): Mrs Jones is Margie's mom. Mrs Jones was the one to hire
    Margie's county inspector because Margie was failing in Geography and thought the mechanical
    teacher had a malfunction.

    Simile

    A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison. It shows the similarities between
    different things.

    Evidence From The Text:

    "My father knows as much as a teacher."

    "A man can't know as much as a teacher."

    Imagery

    Evidence From The Text:


    "He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He
    smiled at her and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart."

    "She was thinking about the old schools they had when her grandfather's grandfather was a boy.
    All the kids from the whole neighbourhood came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard,
    sitting together in the schoolroom, and going home together at the end of the day. They learned
    the same things so they could help one another on the homework and talk about it."

    Hyperbole

    Hyperbole is an over-exaggeration. For example:

    "The cook made enough food to feed an army."

    Evidence From The Text:

    "Gee, said Tommy, what a waste. When you're through with the book, you just throw it away, I
    guess. Our television must have had a million books on it and it's good for plenty more."

    "School? What's there to write about school, I hate school."

    "This is the old kind of school that they had hundreds and hundreds of years ago."

    Answer the following questions

    1. Why did Tommy consider the book a waste?

    Ans: Tommy considered the paper book a waste because it could not store other books in it.
    Although it is worth a read, once reading is done, the book is worth nothing. When compared to
    computers, paper books are far inferior because computers are able to store thousands of books
    in their memory.
    Why was Margie disappointed when her mechanical teacher was mended?Ans: Margie had
    been hoping they would take the teacher away altogether as they had once taken Tommy’s
    teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely. When
    she saw that the inspector would not take her mechanical teacher away, Margie was
    disappointed.

    2.

    CRITICAL THINKING
    1. Elaborate on Margie’s thoughts about the old school system

    Ans: Margie thought the old kind of school must have been fun as she imagined all the
    kids from the entire neighbourhood coming together, laughing and shouting in the
    schoolyard. She imagined they would sit together in the classroom and go home together
    at the end of the day. They would learn the same things and could help one another with
    the homework and talk about it. Also, the teachers were people who could understand the
    mindset and emotions of the students, unlike her teacher. All these aspects made her
    believe that the old system was fun.

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