How has the writer made this description of the V&A entertaining and engaging? (15 marks)

The writer shows the different sensual feelings that you will experience when entering the V+A because of how ‘it stinks of fried chicken on Wednesdays’, and by showing a different sense it emphasises what you are able to detect in the V and A making the passage more entertaining as a result. Furthermore, by referring to it as ‘our school café’, the personal pronoun makes the reader more engaged because they act as if it’s theirs as well making the passage more engaging from the reader’s standpoint.  The writer is able to represent the change that the area has had since it used to be ‘boys changing room’ to now a ‘light, bright generously proportioned room’. By using a list to describe what it was once like when it had ‘studs, mud, terrible items of clothing … and brutal showers’ the writer is able to add what it was once like in detail and making it entertaining. As well as this he uses a tricolon to represent the change that it has made to a place which is now used by ‘staff, students and visitors a like.’ A tricolon emphasises the change it has made to a modern facility and makes the passage more engaging. Short sentences also emphasise the majestic nature of the V+A café that is ‘boggling. And brilliant.’ This short sentence puts the point across as fact and makes the reader fully understand its brilliance making it a part of the passage that is particularly engaging. The writer also compares the V+A and the V+A museum through a juxtaposition when referring to the ‘Victorian architecture and ‘London’s hottest displays’, and through this juxtaposition in terms of time, Victorian architecture and London’s hottest, hottest being a synonym for modern, makes the passage more engaging because it gives the impression that it incorporates both the past and present and provides a fresh perspective. The writer also employs an interesting form of vocabulary because he referred to the reception as a place with ‘casual propaganda’ and from this it gives connotations of control and when comparing this to the V+A it makes the passage more entertaining. The positive undertone of the text makes the passage more engaging because it emphasises the positivity of the V and A and their ‘utterly delightful people’, which run it. Also by employing humour it makes the passage more entertaining because when he refers to the V+A as a place where people ‘actually have fun’ it makes us more engaged in the article because we as the reader enjoy humour and would want to inquire further about the V and A. The writer also employs sarcasm as well as giving periods of time to refer to when he says that the ‘various rules, which are only fully appreciated after four years’ and this sarcasm exaggerates the slow introduction of tranquillity that now occurs in the V+A and through this techniques it makes the passage more interesting. The writer also uses vivid imagery to express what can be seen in the V+A when the ‘pockets of teenagers, amoeba like, merge split and wobble around, coagulating into various social compounds’ and through this detailed vocabulary the writer is able to create a vivid picture which makes the image that more entertaining for the reader. The employment of metaphors when describing how ‘the tables became small cities of calorific slums’ deeply exaggerates and portrays the state of the tables and since they’re such a key part of the V and A it can be seen as a generalisation that can be expanded when describing the whole café, and this makes the passage more entertaining. Exclamation also portrays how students show disregard to their health and state, and since this applies to the human part of the V and A, we can feel more involved and this makes the passage entertaining. Rhetorical questions have also been placed to help the reader think about what it is like to be in the in the mind of a student in the V and A and what they think about, stuff like ‘who’s there? Why? With whom? Who’s not? Why? Not with whom?’ Similes are another great technique because when describing the evacuation of the students it is superbly summarized and explained because ‘at about 9:59 pm it’s as though the Plague has been detected and all is abandoned.’ The simile is used to show the extremity of the evacuation and it’s emphasised by the word plague as well as if the idea that people didn’t want to leave but had to. Finally the writer refers back to what he said in the beginning because he comments on how ‘the noise of rugby boots being clattered around and damp towels hanging pathetically in its ghostly predecessor.’ Since he referred back to the beginning of the text it makes the reader first reflect on what’s been said, but also it helps show that that era of the area is over and the new one of the V and A has started, and showing this finality and genesis it makes the passage evermore entertaining and exciting.