The Wardrobe

Text 1: Instructions, by Mira Fenwick

An original novel extract.

Uncle Rob tipped the contents of the box onto the sitting-room carpet. Boards landed with flat, important thumps; screws bounced under chairs; a folded instruction booklet slipped quietly beneath the sofa. Rob planted his hands on his hips.

‘Instructions are for people who argue with furniture,’ he announced. ‘Furniture respects confidence.’ He arranged his tools in a shining row and raised the screwdriver like a duelling sword. ‘Six boards, eight screws, one wardrobe. Finished before lunch.’

At twenty past ten, the boards covered most of the floor. By eleven, the carpet had broken out in a metal rash. One shelf pointed backwards, both handles were attached to the inside, and a narrow strip of wood had been screwed firmly to nothing at all. Each time my sister found another unused piece, Rob invented a new name for it: a spare support, a transport brace, an optional decorative rail.

At noon, Rob lifted the wardrobe upright. For one magnificent second, it stood. Everyone held their breath.

It leaned.

Rob put out one hand. The wardrobe shivered, bowed politely and folded itself across the carpet, trapping his slippers beneath a side panel. From under the sofa, the instruction booklet slid into view. My sister picked it up and read, ‘Step one: identify all parts before assembly.’

Rob stared at the wreckage.

‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘I was checking the emergency dismantling procedure.’

How does Mira Fenwick use language and structure to make Uncle Rob’s attempt to build the wardrobe comic?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.