all but one

Sitting here grading finals, and all but one are good, serious efforts. In that one case, the paper reminds me of the following parody from The Onion of a high school student who hadn’t done the required reading:

“Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a Signet Classic in which animals take over the farm. In the book, animals are used to represent communists and people represent Democrats. I would say that using animals to represent communists was a pretty good idea, because, historically, communists tried to do a lot of animalistic things, like aim nuclear bombs at America, and that is like something an animal on a farm might do. Portraying communists as animals who try to run things instead of humans is a good way to make a point. The best scene in the book was probably when some of the various animals on the farm set out to create a paradise of progress, ideals, and equality. Anyone who knows history knows how that really turned out. Not only George Orwell, the author, deserves credit, but Russell Baker for his excellent introduction. Edmund Wilson from The New Yorker sure knew what he was talking about when he said the book was ‘Absolutely first-rate… on par with Voltaire and Swift.’ All in all, George Orwell did a great job, and Animal Farm is a Signet Classic in every sense of the word, and well worth the $5.99 purchase price. It’s so good, in fact, that if I was in Canada, I would be happy to pay the higher price of $7.99. If you liked ‘Voltaire and Swift,’ then you will love Animal Farm.”