Anita and Me: Writer's Methods and Techniques (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Writer’s Methods and Techniques

The best responses at GCSE don’t limit their analysis to individual words and phrases. Examiners are really looking for analysis of Syal’s overall aims, so try to take a “whole-text” approach to writer’s methods and techniques. Each of the below topics do just that:

• Structure

• Narrative perspective

• Setting 

• Imagery and symbolism

Structure

Writing about structure is a great way to explore a writer’s methods in any GCSE English Literature essay. By thinking about how Syal has structured Anita and Me, you are already taking a “whole-text” approach to the way the novel develops (which examiners love) and will be commenting on sophisticated techniques without the time-consuming need to learn lots of quotations.

Foreshadowing

• The novel introduces conflict in Meena’s life immediately with a tense scene at the start: 

  • As her father takes Meena to confess to the local shopkeeper, readers are alerted to the trouble Meena may get herself in later

• Meena’s life seems innocent and sheltered at first but she says, “When would anything dangerous and cruel ever happen to me?”:

  • This foreshadows conflicts and dangers Meena will face later in the novel

Climax

• The novel’s climax could arguably come the night before Meena's eleven-plus exam:

  • Tracey disrupts the peaceful few weeks Meena has had with a sudden knock at the window in the middle of the night 

  • This leads to a dramatic action scene in which Anita, Sam, Tracey and Meena confront each other

• At the novel’s climax, Syal reveals the truth behind the residents of the “Big House”:

  • The man who lives there is an Indian man who keeps to himself

• This could be considered a turning point for Meena:

  • Her changing attitude and more honest approach to life becomes apparent:

    • She tells the truth to the police and prevents Sam and Anita from unfair punishment

Resolution

• The novel’s resolution presents a hopeful future for those who are able to grow spiritually:

  • Meena’s success seems certain and she plans for her new life in secondary school

  • This ending conveys a positive message about self-reflection and gaining knowledge

• Syal reflects the way the town undergoes much change in a similar way to some of the characters:

  • Some of the residents move away

  • Syal ends Meena’s story as the Kumars decide to leave for a more diverse area

• However, the future for those left in the town is presented as uncertain:

  • Although Meena leaves a note for Anita, it is left unanswered

  • Anita is left in the town with an unknown future, leaving an unresolved ending for the disadvantaged community

Narrative perspective

• Anita and Me is a first-person narrative, with Meena as its narrator

• The novel is made up of “present” action as well as digressions of narration:

  • This allows Meena to fill in the reader on events from the past  

  • For example, her parents’ remarks about other people in the town or discussions of their past life

• The first-person voice allows readers to form an intimate bond with the protagonist

• Her reflective monologue and description of events is often comedic: “I nodded wisely. Of course, I had known this all along”

• Her voice is often ironic, hinting at the adult perspective behind the young narrator:

  • One way Syal does this is when Meena overhears conversations that allow her to provide information beyond her own experience and knowledge

  • Meena’s limited knowledge of sex work leads to an ironic description of Deirdre, who is “very busy for a woman who claimed not to have a job” and comes home with streaked mascara

• Syal uses Meena’s limited knowledge to create suspense by withholding information from the reader:

  • As Meena finds things out, so, too, does the reader

  • This takes them on a similar journey to the one Meena is on

• Meena’s dramatic characterisation relates events with hyperbole:

  • An example of this is when Meena imagines a newspaper headline: “TOT CHOKES ON UNCOOKED SAUSAGE! BIRTHDAY RUINED, SAY WEEPING PARENTS!”

• At times, though, the sentimental monologue lets readers into knowledge the other characters do not seem to have:

  • This shows Meena’s awakening to darker elements in her world

  • When Meena sees Tracey’s bruises she describes “the imprint of ten cruel, angry fingers”

Setting

• The novel is set for the most part in a small village called Tollington in the Midlands

• Meena’s descriptions focus, as expected from a child’s perspective, on home and its immediate environment:

  • It is made clear that impactful events in Meena’s life take place at school and on the streets of Tollington

• When Meena strays from the protection and safety of her family, settings change to depict Meena’s sense of unfamiliarity or excitement:

  • For example, Meena describes the darkness of the “Big House” that she is goaded to sneak into:

    • She describes the water-filled disused mine and the pond where Tracey almost drowns

  • Meena describes the fair, though, as fascinating and “romantic”

• Later, Meena’s awakening to the dangers in the town are reflected in her descriptions:

  • She says the people are “trapped” in the “forgotten village in no-man’s land between a ten-shop town and an amorphous industrial sprawl”

• At the end of the novel, the changing landscape of the town is portrayed as pivotal in people’s lives:

  • The Kumars’ changing lives affect their decision to leave

  • Some of the townspeople are forced to change their business and lives

• At the same time as Meena learns to be true to herself, she leaves the old town for a new town, signalling her new start

Imagery and symbolism

Imagery 

• Syal uses imagery to build strong characters with whom readers can empathise 

• Meena describes her father with emotive language:
  

  • Her love and respect for him are shown by her affectionate description of his “sensitive” face and “generous mouth”

  • However, her understanding of how much is hidden from her is shown with oxymoronic language:

    • Such as: “the lines around his warm, hopeful eyes, lurking in the furrows of his brow, shadowing the soft curves of his mouth”

• Meena describes seeing Anita’s deeply-hidden potential in the “radiance” of her smile

• Mrs Kumar is described with a triple that connotes to her purity and humility: her “grace, dignity and unthreatening charm”:

  • However, she alludes to her mother’s complex nature too:

    • Alliteration draws attention to the contrasting aspects of her identity: she sees the “monster beneath the mother”

• Syal often uses animal imagery to portray the childish perspective of the protagonist:

  • When Meena chews a sweet she describes herself eating “with the pace and rumination of a sulky cow”

  • She also describes her father’s darker mood as a metaphorical “big black crow”

Symbolism

• Syal uses symbols throughout her novel to convey ideas

• A symbol that is used multiple times across the text is known as a motif

• The Big House is a good example of a motif used for its symbolic representations:

  • The Big House on Meena’s street is a mysterious building in the town

  • The place becomes a mythical place that the children fear

  • In this way it is comparable to a scary house described in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird:

    • Syal uses this reference to convey ideas about aggression and discrimination in a community in the same way

• The Big House is a symbol of the fear and hostility in the community:

  • Anita uses it as a way to test Meena and make her break the law

  • Meena is told a young girl drowned in the old water-filled mine in the gardens

  • Meena is told a witch lives there and the children make the sign of the crucifix as they walk past

  • When Meena is goaded to trespass on the property an angry dog chases them away

• Syal shows the importance of knowledge rather than rumour and gossip using this motif:

  • Meena’s later discovery that an Indian man called Harry lives there disproves the lies that were told about its scary residents

• The Big House becomes a symbol of kindness:

  • Mrs Kumar’s lost necklace is returned by the owner of the house and the children are not punished for trespassing

  • Meena is able to get help from the people in the house in order to save Tracey’s life

  • This event marks a new perception of the house:

    • Where once a child drowned, now a child is saved on the same grounds