Below the quiet rooms

Text: an original contemporary report-style practice extract.

At six in the morning, the hotel lobby contains a vase of flowers, two polished tables and almost no sound. Two floors below, linen arrives in wheeled cages. Sheets pour across the laundry floor, a white tide with corners, while machines swallow one load and release another. The building is quiet only if you stand in the right part of it.

Beside the largest machine, a worker lifts a pillowcase towards the ceiling light. The scale of the laundry contracts to a thumb pressed against a small grey mark. She turns the cloth, checks it again and places it in a separate basket. Around her, drums rotate and doors strike shut, but her movements are unhurried. Fresh sheets emerge warm and shapeless. Minutes later, they have become firm rectangles, stacked so precisely that each pile resembles a low white wall.

The first full trolley travels upwards. In a guest room, a worker draws a sheet across a mattress and sends its wrinkles away with the flat of her hand. A pillow is turned, a towel straightened, a curtain opened. Then she leaves, taking the trolley and every sign of the process with her. By the time the next guest reaches the room, the bed offers no history. It looks untouched, which is the laundry’s most carefully manufactured illusion.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to interest and engage the reader.

In your answer, consider:

• language features and techniques
• structural techniques
• the effect on the reader.

Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.