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Margie
Tommy is Margie’s 13-year-old friend who finds an extremely old book in his attic, complete with wrinkly, yellowing pages. Although Tommy shares the book with Margie and helps her understand how the schools of the past functioned, he finds Margie’s extreme enthusiasm and constant questions annoying and naïve. He frequently condescends to her, sometimes going to far as laughing in her face and calling her stupid for not knowing as much as he does about the world. He’s also arrogant: when Margie remarks that a human man couldn’t possibly be a teacher and know as much as their mechanical teachers, Tommy haughtily declares that his father knows “almost as much.” As he’s two years older, he also tries to act nonchalant in front of Margie—like noncommittally answering “Maybe” when Margie asks if they can read together after school—which is a sharp contrast from Margie’s unbridled curiosity and enthusiasm.
Tommy Quotes in The Fun They Had
The The Fun They Had quotes below are all either spoken by Tommy or refer to Tommy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Fun They Had
Quotes
Margie even wrote it that night in her diary. On the page headed May 17, 2155, she wrote, “Today Tommy found a real book!”
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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.
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“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.”
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Tommy looked at her with very superior eye. “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.”
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“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.”
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Tommy Quotes in The Fun They Had
The The Fun They Had quotes below are all either spoken by Tommy or refer to Tommy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Fun They Had
Quotes
Margie even wrote it that night in her diary. On the page headed May 17, 2155, she wrote, “Today Tommy found a real book!”
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Explanation and Analysis:
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.
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“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.”
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Tommy looked at her with very superior eye. “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.”
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“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.”
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