Third-Person Point of View. In a story told from the third-person point of view, the narrator does not take part in the action and tells the story using words such as he and she instead of I and we. In some stories told from the third-person point of view, the narrator is omniscient, meaning he or she knows everything about the thoughts and emotions of all the characters. As you read this story, decide whether the narrator is omniscient.
Dialogue. Dialogue is conversation involving two or more people or characters. Fictional works are made up of dialogue, narration, and description. Dialogue is enclosed in quotation marks and is often accompanied by tag lines—words and phrases such as he said or she replied that tell who is speaking. In “The Fun They Had,” what do you learn about the characters and the action through dialogue?
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- Science Connection. The first electronic computer was built in 1939. However, it took until 1946 for engineers to create the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. It was a huge machine called the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). ENIAC weighed over thirty tons and took up more than fifteen hundred square feet of floor space. In 1958, transistors were first used in computers, and the size of computers dropped dramatically. The 1960s saw the introduction of silicon chips that contained thousands of transistors, so computers got even smaller and more powerful. As the size of computers decreased and their power increased, it became possible to make the small, less expensive personal computers used today in homes, schools, and businesses.
- “The Fun They Had” was first published in 1957. At that time, the slow, massive UNIVAC was the most advanced computer available. Isaac Asimov had to use his imagination to predict how computers would change. He based his predictions on his knowledge of computers and made his best guess about what people would need computers to do in the future.
- History Connection. From ancient times to the 1800s, few people went to school. Only the very wealthy people and those who were being trained for public offices were educated. In the American colonies, before the American Revolution, there were some private schools in which children were taught reading, writing, and religion. In 1647, Massachusetts Colony decided that every town with at least fifty families had to set up an elementary school, and towns with one hundred or more families had to set up high schools to prepare young men for college. Later, private academies that accepted girls were started in Massachusetts and elsewhere. In the 1800s, when Americans realized that education was necessary for making good citizens, all the states began to set up public schools to educate both girls and boys. Now, every state has laws that require all children to go to school until a certain age.
What do you most like about school? What would you change about it if you could?
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