The map in my pocket
Text: an original contemporary personal-account-style practice extract.
On my first morning as a guide for a new pupil, the office gave me a printed map of the school. It was neat, pale and confident. Every corridor was a straight line; every classroom was a numbered box. The map knew where everything was, but it knew nothing about being there.
As we walked, I began writing in the margins. Beside the library, I added, ‘warm window seat’. By the science block, I drew a star next to the door that always stuck. I marked the quiet staircase, the noisy water fountain and the bench that caught the sun at lunchtime. The clean page filled with small, untidy truths.
At the end of the tour, the new pupil borrowed my pen. She drew a quicker route to the music room and added, ‘best echo’. Then she folded the map and slipped it into her pocket. It was no longer the office’s map or mine. It had begun to belong to both of us.
Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to present the changing importance of the map.
In your answer, consider:
Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.