Source: The Onion
http://www.theonion.com/articles/grandchild-grandfather-equally-dreading-collaborat,38025/
This is a troubling time in the town of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Eleven-year-old Ethan Metcalfe is faced with the onerous family tree project assigned to local middle schoolers. Unfortunately, he is required to enlist in the help of his grandfather, Gerald Sonenberg, in order to complete the project. Both parties have admitted to being uncomfortable around each other. Two grueling weeks have passed since the project was assigned to Ethan, and neither grandfather nor grandson could muster a way out of the ordeal. They have now resolved to just get through the situation as quickly as possible.
This is an extremely vexatious situation that is being imposed upon our unassuming, innocent middle school children. It is unimaginably cruel for teachers to place students, not to mention grandparents, in this plight. This obtrudes upon established customs of keeping to oneself and avoiding contact with relatives.
The article uses the satirical techniques of exaggeration and irony to humor the issue. It makes the situation sound incredibly serious and plays out contrary to our expectations (that both parties would happily engage in the project). It ridicules faltering familial values and the growing need to avoid family.
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