Development of Themes
Through Analysis of Textual
Evidence
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1.What is a theme?
2.How do you find a theme?
3. What are some examples
of common themes?
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4.Why is it important that
we are unbiased when
making an argument?
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5.What is characterization?
Why are characters
important to the theme of a
story?
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6.Where in a story can a
theme be found? Explain.
7. What is one theme or
central idea in “The Fun
They Had”?
You will reference the short story “The Fun They Had” for questions 7, 8 and 9.
8. Choose (highlight) at least
3 details that support your
selected theme.
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9. Create a presentation to
support your selection of
theme and argue why the 3
details you chose justify it.
You may work in groups of
3. The presentation does
not need to be fancy, but it
needs to have at least 3
slides for each detail and an
additional (4th) slide as a
cover page. You will be
using Prezi for this
assignment.
Provide a summary of the short story “The Fun They Had”. Include the main points
but exclude any personal biases (do not include personal feelings or interpretations
about these points).
I have included a copy of “The Fun They Had” below
The Fun They Had
Isaac Asimov
Margie even wrote about it that night in her diary. On the page headed May 17, 2157, she wrote,
"Today, Tommy found a real book!"
It was a very old book. Margie's grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his
grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper.
They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words
that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to--on a screen, you know. And
then, when they turned back to the page before, it had the same words on it that it had had when
they read it the first time.
"Gee," said Tommy, "what a waste. When you're through with the book, you just throw it away, I
guess. Our television screen must have had a million books on it and it's good for plenty more. I
wouldn't throw it away."
"Same with mine," said Margie. She was eleven and hadn't seen as many telebooks as Tommy
had. He was thirteen. She said, "Where did you find it?"
"In my house." He pointed without looking, because he was busy reading. "In the attic." "What's
it about?" "School."
Margie was scornful. "School? What's there to write about school? I hate school."
Margie always hated school, but now she hated it more than ever. The mechanical teacher had
been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her
mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector.
He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He
smiled at Margie and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart. Margie had hoped he
wouldn't know how to put it together again, but he knew how all right, and, after an hour or so,
there it was again, large and black and ugly, with a big screen on which all the lessons were
shown and the questions were asked. That wasn't so bad. 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
mark in no time.
The Inspector had smiled after he was finished and patted Margie's head. He said to her mother,
"It's not the little girl's fault, Mrs. Jones. I think the geography sector was geared a little too
quick. Those things happen sometimes. I've slowed it up to an average ten-year level. Actually,
the over-all pattern of her progress is quite satisfactory." And he patted Margie's head again.
Margie was disappointed. She had been hoping they would take the teacher away altogether.
They had once taken Tommy's teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had
blanked out completely.
So she said to Tommy, "Why would anyone write about school?"
Tommy looked at her with very superior eyes. "Because it's not our kind of school, stupid. This is
the old kind of school that they had hundreds and hundreds of years ago." He added loftily,
pronouncing the word carefully, "Centuries ago."
Margie was hurt. "Well, I don't know what kind of school they had all that time ago." She read
the book over his shoulder for a while, then said, "Anyway, they had a teacher."
"Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn't a regular teacher. It was a man." "A man? How could a
man be a teacher?" "Well, he just told the boys and girls things and gave them homework and
asked them questions." "A man isn't smart enough." "Sure he is. My father knows as much as my
teacher." "He can't. A man can't know as much as a teacher." "He knows almost as much, I
betcha."
Margie wasn't prepared to dispute that. She said, "1 wouldn't want a strange man in my house to
teach me."
Tommy screamed with laughter. "You don't know much, Margie. The teachers didn't live in the
house. They had a special building and all the kids went there." "And all the kids learned the
same thing?" "Sure, if they were the same age."
"But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches
and that each kid has to be taught differently."
"Just the same they didn't do it that way then. If you don't like it, you don't have to read the
book."
"I didn't say I didn't like it," Margie said quickly. She wanted to read about those funny schools.
They weren't even half-finished when Margie's mother called, "Margie! School!" Margie looked
up. "Not yet, Mamma."
"Now!" said Mrs. Jones. "And it's probably time for Tommy, too."
Margie said to Tommy, "Can I read the book some more with you after school?"
"Maybe," he said nonchalantly. He walked away whistling, the dusty old book tucked beneath his
arm.
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 hours.
The screen was lit up, and it said: "Today's arithmetic lesson is on the addition of proper
fractions. Please insert yesterday's homework in the proper slot."
Margie did so 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, 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.
And the teachers were people...
The mechanical teacher was flashing on the screen: "When we add the fractions 1/2 and 1/4..."
Margie was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. She was thinking
about the fun they had.
