The Luncheon Passages Analysis

Within these two passages, Wolf changes the tone by comparing different meals that were served to her by both the men and women’s college. In the first passage (men’s college) Wolf describes the contrast between the luncheon to the dinner at the women’s college. The author uses different syntactical structures, selection of detail, and tone to show the readers the difference between the two. Wolf portrays the luncheon with a tone of exquisiteness and glamorous and conjointly adds more structure to the first passage than the second. As Wolf describes the food being presented to her "retinue of sauces and salads... the sharp and the sweet” and “wine glasses being emptied and filled”, it makes the audience feel as if they are in a different world; a world of prestige. The men were treated with respect and were positioned as a superiority. Whereas in the women's college Wolf describes the dinner to be “ready” and nothing out of the ordinary. Her tone promptly changes to a tone of depression and poignancy which makes her encounter to be poor. The food that is being served is portrayed as a “ very plain gravy soup,” which shows that Wolf was not fond of the dinner and expected much more. Woolf utilizes imagery when she states that the potatoes at the luncheon

When Wolf talks about the food in the men’s college she uses stronger and more metaphors and vivid imagery than she does in passage two describing the dinner. Wolf describes the men food to be “whitest cream”, “succulence”, and brilliance” but in the women’s food, she illustrates it to be “transparent”, “homely”, and “uncharitable" which does not give the audience a charming picture. By utilizing narrative structure, manipulation of language, selection of detail, and tone Wolf allows the audience to understand how much superior and exceptional the men’s meals were than the