However, Meena is fascinated by Anita’s capacity to speak her mind openly, however rude or vulgar her thoughts might be, and Meena soon becomes one of Anita’s followers. Meena notices that Anita always wants to create rivalries among her friends so that she can have power over them. Anita is known for being the leader of a group of two friends, Sherrie and Fat Sally. Meena finds an outlet for these rebellious energies in her relationship with Anita Rutter, a local thirteen-year-old girl. Meena, by contrast, wants to spend time outdoors and take part in physical activities. Although this community makes Meena feel loved, it also encourages her to conform to a typical image of an Indian girl: pleasant and polite. In addition to her parents, her family includes a series of Indian acquaintances whom Meena calls “Aunties” and “Uncles”-friends who are not actually relatives but who come to Meena’s house on a regular basis. Although Meena is close to her parents, who try to give her guidance and support, she often finds herself lying and wanting to rebel.
This scene, which leaves Meena’s father furious, allows Meena to reflect on her family background. She finally admits that she has indeed taken money from her mother to buy sweets at Mr. The narrative then shifts to life in Tollington, as Meena is caught telling a lie to her father.
She concludes that people like her need to lie about their identity to feel as though they belong somewhere. However, she then admits that these are not actually her own memories, but that she enjoys this narrative because it makes her feel connected to her Indian background. It follows the life of nine-year-old Meena Kumar, the daughter of Indian immigrants, as she attempts to define her personal identity, marked by her Indian background and the small-town, English society in which she grows up.Īt the beginning of the novel, Meena describes her earliest memories as her parents’ arrival in India. Meera Syal’s novel Anita and Me is set in the fictional English village of Tollington in the 1970s.
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