Back to: Jammu and Kashmir Board Class 9th English Guide and Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
The story The Fun They Had is set in the future when two kids, Margery and Tommy found a book that had stills words instead of moving ones.
Still Words!
“Tommy found a real book!” wrote Margery in her diary on 17 May 2157. Margery’s grandfather told her that his grandfather gifted him that book when he was a little boy. The pages of the book were yellow and crinkly. Both Margery and Tommy felt surprised to see still words instead of the moving ones.
Tommy was thirteen, and Margery was eleven. Tommy told Margery that he had found the book in the attic and it was about school. Margery told Tommy that she hated school. She failed again and again in her school. Margery’s teacher was a little red-faced man (a robot). He had a big screen where all the lessons were shown.
What Margery hated about him the most was the slot where she had to put her homework. The mechanical teacher calculated the marks in no time. The Inspector that her mother summoned after she failed repeatedly told her mother that it was not Margery’s fault. Margery was sad as she had expected the Inspector to take away the teacher altogether.
Man is Dumb
Margery and Tommy were thinking about the old school. Margery could not believe that, centuries ago, they had schools with school teachers. Tommy told her that the teacher was indeed a man, and she did not believe a word of Tommy.
Man, according to Margery, was not smart enough to be a teacher. Margery believed that every teacher must serve the mind of every kid in the school. They both were arguing when Margery’s mom called her for school.
It was time for Tommy’s school too. Margery asked Tommy if she could read about those funny schools, too, and he replied affirmatively. Margery went to her bedroom to attend school.
Good Times
The mechanical teacher asked Margery to put her homework in the slot. Margery sadly put the homework and imagined old schools where all the kids must have attended the classes together. They helped each other in solving homework, and it would have been a beautiful place.
