Why does old school become joyful in Margie's view?

Correct answer: It is a collective world opposite to her lonely experience

The governing concept is meaning through contrast. Margie's own school life is solitary: she studies at home, receives instruction from a machine, and has no classmates nearby. When Tommy describes children learning together in an old school, she imagines a lively social world of shared lessons, conversation, play, and companionship. The old school seems joyful not because it lacks study, homework, or discipline, but because learning takes place among people. Option A is correct because it explains the emotional contrast that shapes her imagination. Options B, C, and D are contradicted by the chapter or reduce joy to the absence of education.