Analyse af Isaac Asimovs 'The Fun They Had'

„The Fun They Had“ by Isaac Asimov is a science fiction short story from 1951. It’s about the future education, where you meet a girl and a boy living in the future. They find a ‘real’ book about the old days. The story shows the pros and cons of technology, and how it will affect society.

The story takes place in the year 2155. A boy, named Tommy, finds an old book, which he shows to Margie, an eleven-year-old girl. In the time they live in, there are no such things as books made out of paper. All the books they have are on the television, which contains millions of books. Their school is at their own house and their teacher is a robot. In the book Tommy found, there’s a teacher in a special building teaching the children. The odd thing to Margie is that it’s a man who’s the teacher, not a robot and all the children are together learning the same things. It’s also surprising to her, how a human can be smart enough to teach other people.

Margie becomes curious about the old days, and how it was compared to what she’s used to.

She is very naïve, but still interested and eager to learn. Her naivety is especially expressed when she says, “?But my mother says…?” (p. 69, ll. 33-35). She believes what she’s told without a doubt.