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• Anita and Me was written by actor and comedian Meera Syal.

• The story is about nine-year-old British Indian girl, Meena Kumar, and her difficult friendship with local bully Anita Rutter.

• It is set in the fictional West Midlands village of Tollington.

Watch the video below to learn about the plot, characters and themes in Anita and Me by Meera Syal.

Did you know?

Anita and Me is semi-autobiographical. This means it is loosely based on the childhood experiences of the author, Meera Syal. Like Meena, Meera grew up in a village in the West Midlands with her Indian parents.

Meena and her parents are the only Indian family in Tollington, a village in the West Midlands. Meena’s parents struggle to deal with her bad behaviour, for example, when she steals sweets from a shop and lies about it.

Meena becomes friends with an older girl called Anita, whom Meena’s parents disapprove of. Anita encourages Meena to do things she isn’t supposed to do, like steal a charity collection tin.

In the village, locals are angry about a planned motorway that will destroy parts of Tollington. At the local fete, a boy called Sam Lowbridge, who is usually kind to Meena, angrily criticises the project and yells racist insults.

Meena’s mother struggles to cope after giving birth to Meena’s baby brother. Meena’s grandmother, Nanima, arrives from India to help the family. Meena learns more about Indian culture from her grandmother and becomes proud of her heritage.

Meena overhears Anita describing how she and Sam took part in a racist attack on an Indian man. Meena is shocked. She recklessly decides to ride a friend’s horse but falls and breaks her leg. She spends several months in hospital where she meets Robert, a boy her age who is very ill. They become close but Robert dies.

Meena decides to focus on studying for the eleven-plus exam which would allow her to go to the local grammar school. The night before the exam, Anita’s sister Tracey tells her that she is worried Sam is attacking Anita. When Meena goes to check, they realise Anita and Sam are having sex.

Sam doesn’t understand why Meena is angry with him and kisses her. Tracey, Anita and Sam get into a fight and Tracey accidentally falls into a pond. Tracey wants to tell the police that she was pushed into the pond, but Meena tells the truth. Meena passes the eleven-plus exam and her family moves away from Tollington.

Meena Kumar

Meena is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. She longs for drama and excitement. Meena can be cheeky and often gets into trouble but she is also kind, imaginative and intelligent.

Meena struggles to feel like she belongs in Tollington. Her family are the only Indian family living in the village and their culture and traditions are very different to those of her classmates.

Anita Rutter

Anita is a thirteen-year-old girl whose behaviour can be mean and selfish. She manipulates and bullies her friends and is impressed by Sam Lowbridge’s racist behaviour. Anita’s home life is unstable and her parents are often not there to support her and her sister.

Meena’s family

Nanima

Nanima is Meena’s grandmother who visits from India. She appreciates Meena’s rebellious side and they become very close. Nanima inspires Meena to be proud of her Indian heritage by telling her stories and teaching her Punjabi.

Mrs Kumar

Mrs Kumar is Meena’s mother. She is kind, compassionate and well-liked by the Tollington community. She has high standards for Meena and does not approve of her friendship with Anita. Mrs Kumar misses India and struggles to cope when Sunil is born.

Mr Kumar

Mr Kumar is Meena’s father. He is devoted to his family and wants to give them a good life. He has strong values which he wants to pass on to Meena, such as honesty, respect and responsibility.

Sunil

Sunil is Meena’s baby brother. Meena resents him when he is born but soon grows to love him.

Activity

Themes are the main ideas that appear repeatedly in a novel. Some of the important themes in Anita and Me are:

• Friendship
• Belonging
• Racism

In Anita and Me, there is a clear difference between true friendship and the way in which Anita bullies the girls she calls her friends.

When Meena first meets Anita she thinks they have things in common and that they can become good friends. However, as Meena matures she sees that Anita’s friendship is controlling and damaging to her.

Meena feels like she is caught between two worlds. She doesn't feel like she belongs in the village of Tollington, nor does she feel a connection with her Indian culture. This leads Meena to feel unhappy and make some bad decisions.

By the end of the novel, Meena has learned to embrace her Indian heritage. She learns that, no matter how hard she tries to be like the other children in Tollington, there is a part of her that will “be forever not England”.

Meena becomes increasingly aware of racism throughout the novel. She experiences racist abuse and encounters racist attitudes as part of her daily life. For example:

• She is unexpectedly called a racist name by a “sweet-faced elderly woman”.
• The name of Anita’s pet dog is a racist insult.
• Some people call Meena by a different name because they say her name is too difficult to pronounce.

This shows how racist attitudes are ingrained in the community around her.

While some of the racism in the novel is deliberate, other examples of racism come from ignorance. People don’t seem to realise that their racism is upsetting and hurtful to Meena. For example, when Meena confronts Sam about his racist behaviour, he tells Meena that he meant “all the others”, not her.

Activity

Writers choose words and phrases carefully when they write. Readers can look closely at texts to think about how and why the writer made these choices.

Imagery

Imagery is descriptive writing which appeals to one or more of the five senses. It can help writers create worlds that readers feel part of. Meera Syal uses imagery to help her readers understand Meena's world and get a deeper understanding of her experiences.

What do the following examples of imagery from the novel tell the reader?

Did you know?

Many Hindus have a shrine at home where they perform personal and family worship. A Hindu shrine often contains offerings of fruit and flowers, pictures or statues of Hindu gods and goddesses, a bell, an arti lamp and an aum symbol. Find out more about these objects on Bitesize Religious Studies.

Structure refers to how written text is organised and the way the story is ordered and shaped.

Bildungsroman

Anita and Me is a type of story called a bildungsroman. In a bildungsroman, the main character grows up to become a wiser person. There is usually a life-changing event where they learn more about themselves and their personal values. The story arc of a typical bildungsroman usually contains six main stages.

Did you know?

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë are other examples of novels that follow the bildungsroman structure.

The context in which a novel was written can sometimes reveal more about its themes, message and meaning.

The 1970s

Anita and Me is set in the 1970s which was a time of great change in the UK.

The Partition of India

International events also contributed to change in British society, for example, the Partition of India. In 1947 India gained independence from the British Empire.

On 15 August 1947, the Indian Independence Act divided British India into two countries, India and Pakistan, declaring both countries free and independent states. India had a Hindu government and Pakistan had a Muslim government.

The new boundaries of India and Pakistan meant that 15 million people became religious minorities overnight.

In trying to migrate to and from the new states of India and Pakistan, 1 million people died in the violence that broke out, although some historians estimate that the death toll may be higher. Hundreds of thousands of people migrated to other countries, including Britain.

In the novel, Mr and Mrs Kumar share stories with the other Indian Aunties and Uncles about the violence that occurred during the time of Partition.