Character Sketch:- The Fun They Had | English Class 9 PDF Download

"The Fun They Had" is an insightful short story by Isaac Asimov that explores education, technology, and how learning is changing over time. The narrative takes place in the future, where traditional books and schools may no longer exist. It presents a vision of a world where advanced machines have fully replaced conventional schooling.

This document examines the character sketches of all the individuals in this story. All the children from the neighbourhood gathered, laughing and playing in the schoolyard, sitting together in the classroom, and heading home as a group at the end of the day. Margie reflected on how much the kids must have enjoyed it back in the old days. She was reminiscing about the fun they had.

1. Margie Jones

Margie does not like her school because she is confined to a room and has to study alone at a fixed time every day. Margie is a curious girl. When she finds a real book in Tommy's hands, she is eager to know about its contents. In fact, she wants to read the book herself. However, she is surprised that the book describes a school of the old times with real men as teachers, and classes were conducted in a special building. 

Margie in her room

She is fascinated to learn that, in those times, the students of the same level studied together. She concludes that the old system was much better as the students had so much fun studying together and could help each other.  Through Margie, the author has projected a contrast between the schools of today and the schools of the future.

2. Tommy

Tommy is very curious. As soon as he discovers a real book, he starts reading it. However, he does not like the idea of printed books, which, according to him, are a waste once they have been read. 

Compared to Margie, he is not as sensitive to the contents of the book. He has an air of superiority – he snubs Margie when she expresses her ignorance about old schools. Tommy has been used by the author to contrast the school education of the twentieth century with that of the twenty-second.

Tommy reading the book 

3. Mechanical Teacher

The mechanical teacher is a robot programmed to individually suit Margie's learning needs. Margie hates the teacher, who is described as "large and black and ugly," and has a slot where she has to insert homework.

4. Mrs. Jones

Mrs. Jones is Margie's mother. She appears in the story only in relation to Margie's schooling, about which she has strong opinions.
Example: She called the County Inspector to come fix Margie's teacher when it kept giving her geography tests that were too hard. 

She also enforced the timing of Margie's schooling, believing that school should happen at the same time every day.

5. County Inspector

The Inspector takes apart the teacher and puts it back together, resetting its geography level to an average ten-year-old level. He reassures Margie and her mother that it was not her fault that the geography tests were too hard.