Anita and Me: Character Quotations (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Key word or phrase to memorise:  “not lying” and “honest”

What the quotation means: Anita insists to her father that she is telling him the truth and that she did not steal money from her mother to buy sweets

Theme: Family relationships

• This line opens Syal’s novel, and introduces key themes about character development:

  • Syal introduces Anita’s conflicts with juxtaposition in “lying” and “honest”

  • Anita’s problems with her father centre around honesty here and further on in the narrative

• Syal creates sympathy for the child protagonist as she is introduced as “pleading” with her father

Key word or phrase to memorise:  “ain’t naff old Wolverhampton” 

What the quotation means: Meena proudly tells her old friend Pinky that she should adapt to their new town Tollington like she has done, and that their old town, Wolverhampton, is unfashionable (or “uncool”)

Theme: Cultural identity

• Syal conveys the challenges of dual-culture through her protagonist:

  • Meena rebels against her parents’ preference for Indian friends and  instead chooses English friends

  • Here, she shows pride for Tollington, implying a dismissal of her old life 

• Her need to conform and fit in with her new friends is conveyed in her changing dialect:

  • Syal presents Meena’s new identity through her use of British slang such as “naff”

Key word or phrase to memorise: “an accident” and “Tracey’s lying”

What the quotation means: Meena tells the police that Sam was not responsible for Tracey’s fall in the pond as she wants to protect him from their judgement and give him a second chance to change

Theme: Violence and abuse

• Meena’s reference to “lying” highlights her development regarding the idea of honesty:

  • Her insistence that it was accidental conveys her sense of justice

  • Her response implies compassion as she does not seek vengeance

Key word or phrase to memorise: “catch summat” and “Mum told me”

What the quotation means: Anita warns Meena not to go near the caravans because her mother told her that the travellers (“gippos”) who live there will give her germs and that they are “Tinkers” (thieves)

Theme: Cultural identity

• Syal illustrates parental and societal influence through Anita’s attitudes and beliefs:

  • Anita’s attitudes have been taught to her by her mother

  • Anita hears and sees discriminatory behaviour from her peers, like Sam

• Syal’s depiction of the casual discrimination in the town highlights how it is normalised:

  • Here, Anita appears unaware of the ideas behind her words

  • She perpetuates racist attitudes with her advice that all the people in the caravans are unhygienic 

Key word or phrase to memorise:  “poxy Biba scarves” and “you never wear these”

What the quotation means: When Anita visits Meena’s house, she compliments her Indian scarves (“dupattas”); she says that they are much nicer than the worthless British brand that Sally owns and asks her why she never wears them

Theme: Cultural identity 

• Syal raises questions about cultural identity: 

  • Anita’s question portrays her naivety about the challenges of dual-cultures

  • Anita seems unaware that Meena feels alienated by her Indian identity

  • Meena narrates that uses the scarves as “slingshots”

• Syal’s ambiguous presentation of Anita highlights the influence of peer pressure:

  • Anita’s racist behaviour in public juxtaposes what she is like in private 

  • In Meena’s room, Anita belittles her culture using the colloquial “poxy”

  • She praises the superior Indian silk with the hyperbolic “miles better”

Key word or phrase to memorise:  “I only watched” and “we just shouted” 

What the quotation means: Anita is overheard telling Tracey that she was involved in the attack on a Pakistani man, but that she and Sherrie (“us wenches”) just encouraged the “lads” and offered support by holding their beer and shouting

Theme: Violence and abuse

• A turning point in Meena’s development comes when she hears Anita’s cold narration of a racist attack

• Syal illustrates how violence is allowed to occur as a result of peer pressure:

  • Anita’s casual response to the violence implies a disregard for suffering

  • Her desire to be liked by the “lads” extends to becoming complicit in their crimes

  • Anita proudly explains how the girls behaved in a submissive way

Key word or phrase to memorise:  “gets into so many fights” and “starts that at school”

What the quotation means: Meena’s mother complains to her friends about Meena’s behaviour, and is concerned that the violence may affect her schoolwork

Theme: Cultural identity   

• Syal’s presentation of Daljit highlights  challenges facing displaced parents:

  • Daljit worries about the negative influences Meena has around her

  • She often insults the parenting styles of the “ignorant English”

• The relationship between Meena and her mother is tense at times:

  • Meena overhears her mother’s negative comments about her 

  • Daljit is focused on Meena’s education and her Indian identity 

  • But Meena is focused on her friends and exploring her identity 

Key word or phrase to memorise:  “Just because it doesn’t happen to us” 

What the quotation means: Daljit tells her husband that he should not be so amused at the racism he has witnessed just because their own personal experience is better

Theme:  Family relationships 

• Syal portrays Daljit as a good role model for Meena:

  • Her sense of justice and fierce desire for equality is presented throughout the novel

  • Perhaps Meena’s response to Sam later is a consequence of her mother’s dialogue here

  • Despite Sam’s kindness to her, she tells him that she is as Indian as the people he abuses

Key word or phrase to memorise: “much too young”

What the quotation means: When Meena hears her mother tell her father that she is too young for a boyfriend, she notices that her father remains silent, implying that he knows better 

Theme:  Family relationships

• Syal’s presentation of family relationships is light-hearted and often ironic:

  • Syal creates dramatic irony with Meena’s first-person narrative

• Readers know, like Meena and her father, that she has, in fact, had a boyfriend 

• This may suggest that Daljit’s perspective on Meena is too idealistic

• It highlights the different relationships Meena has with her father and mother

Key word or phrase to memorise: “politics not songs”

What the quotation means: Shyam discusses his potential career as a singer, and explains that, as a result of the challenges his family faced due to political unrest, his father believed singing was meaningless (“Mindless rubbish”)

Theme:  Cultural identity 

• Syal highlights the challenges Meena’s family faced due to the Partition of India:

  • Shyam speaks about the family’s displacement and suggests that his father became politically engaged

  • The juxtaposition of “politics not songs” suggests the father’s strong opinions, emphasised with “refused”

• Syal presents Shyam’s dramatic and exuberant nature as a reason for his close relationship with Meena

Key word or phrase to memorise: “just experimenting” and “good girl”

What the quotation means: When Meena comes home heavily made-up, her family is shocked, but her father tries to minimise her embarrassment and explains that she is only exploring her identity 

Theme:  Family relationships

• Syal portrays Shyam as a gentle and tolerant father:

  • Unlike Daljit, he does not express worries about Meena to others

  • He calls her a “good girl” to show her that she has not behaved badly

• His justification, that she is “just experimenting”, implies he understands Meena’s need to rebel or explore:

  • This may be because of his own repressed creativity 

Key word or phrase to memorise: “a brother around the corner”

What the quotation means: Shyam is surprised to learn that the person who lives in the notorious “Big House” is a fellow Indian, who he calls a “brother”, and that he has been there for so long without them knowing about it

Theme:  Cultural identity

• Syal examines the effects of discrimination:

  • Shyam’s words suggest the isolation that Mr Singh has experienced in the house “all this time”

• One of the aspects of the Kumar’s cultural identity is their close-knit community:

  • Meena narrates that they call their friends “Aunt” or “Uncle”

  • Shyam’s term “brother” to describe a stranger shows the solidarity in the displaced community 

  • Syal illustrates the parents’ need for a sense of belonging in England