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Why is Tollington's village school demolished?

Anita and Me - Understanding the Text

Test how well you understand Anita and Me. Track key events, turning points, and shifts in Meena’s relationships to see how the story builds meaning.

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Fascinating Fact:

Anita represents both fascination and danger, embodying the allure of rebellion and the pain of betrayal.

In GCSE English Literature, understanding the text means looking closely at what happens, who tells the story, and how moments of tension, humour, and conflict reveal Meena’s changing identity and loyalties.

Key Terms

Narrator: The voice telling the story; in this novel, we see events through Meena’s first-person memories.
Perspective: The viewpoint from which events are described, shaping how readers judge characters and actions.
Turning point: A key moment when events shift direction, often changing relationships or revealing hidden truths.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How do I understand Anita and Me for GCSE?

To understand Anita and Me, track Meena’s changing feelings about Anita, her parents, and Tollington. Notice how each scene adds to themes of identity, racism, friendship, and growing up.

What does Anita represent in Anita and Me?

Anita represents both excitement and danger. She offers Meena access to rebellion and popularity, but her cruelty and prejudice show how harmful role models can damage trust and self-worth.

Which key moments should I revise in Anita and Me?

Focus on Meena’s first meeting with Anita, moments of bullying or racist language, clashes at home, and scenes where Meena recognises Anita’s faults. These turning points reveal the novel’s main ideas.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

Why is Meena's father angry with her at the beginning of the novel?

She has stolen sweets from Mr Ormerod and lied about it

She has stolen money from her mother and lied about it

She has stolen money from Mr Ormerod and lied about it

She has stolen sweets from Mr Ormerod and blamed it on her cousins

She has stolen money from her mother and used this to buy sweets from Mr Ormerod. She told her parents that the shopkeeper gave her the sweets for free

2 .

Meena's mother works...

In a factory

As a nurse

As an actor

As a teacher

Meena's mother, unlike many of the inhabitants of Tollington, is university-educated

3 .

Which of the following best describes Meena's attitude towards Anita at the beginning of the novel?

Meena is afraid of Anita

Meena dislikes Anita

Meena condescends to Anita

Meena looks up to Anita

Meena wishes to become more like Anita and to be accepted by her. Anita's friendship serves in some ways as a seal of approval on the younger girl

4 .

What is the primary motivation for Nanima's visit?

The family's greatest wish is for Meena to learn Punjabi

Meena's mother is overwhelmed by parenting responsibilities

After Meena breaks her leg, the family require additional help around the house

Nanima's greatest wish has always been to visit England

From Meena's perspective, her baby brother Sunil is too clingy. In a moment of despair, her mother expresses her feelings of isolation as she tries to bring up two children so far away from her own family. Nanima's arrival restores domestic order

5 .

What does Meena lose the night Sunil is born?

A small statue of Ganesha

Her mother's shoes

Her best salwar kameez

Her mother's diamond necklace

Mr Harinder Singh finds and returns the diamond necklace, which fell near his statue of Ganesha, later in the novel

6 .

Anita's family is troubled. Which of the following is NOT a sign of her difficult home life?

The bruises on Tracey's thighs

Anita's dad's army service

Deirdre's behaviour as she sneaks away from the village

Anita's freedom to wander around the village unsupervised

Anita's stealing from Meena and her lies are taken as evidence that she is a bad influence on the younger girl. She often seems older than her age, but at other times it becomes obvious to Meena that she is a young girl deprived of parental love and care

7 .

Who lives in the "Big House" in Tollington?

Mr and Mrs Pembridge

Uncle Alan

Mireille and Harinder

A witch

The "Big House" is described in the first chapter to be "as gloomy and roomy as a set from a Hammer horror film". At the end of the novel, when Meena knocks on the door for help, she discovers the mysterious inhabitants to be the lovely, reclusive couple, Mireille and Harinder

8 .

What provokes Meena's disastrous ride on Sherrie's horse?

She has just learned that Anita's boyfriend is Sam

She has just learned that Sam and Anita were responsible for racist violence in the village

She wants to make something happen

All of the above

Meena is motivated by jealousy, anger, disgust, shock and grief, as well as her desire for something, anything, to happen in her life

9 .

Why is Tollington's village school demolished?

To make space for the motorway being built through the village

The village no longer has enough children to fill the school

The village's population of school children has grown so drastically that a bigger school is needed

To make space for dozens of new houses

The new motorway is a sign that the village is going through an irreversible change which is likely to result in a loss of its identity

10 .

Why is Meena required to give evidence to the police?

She must corroborate Tracey's report that Sam or Anita pushed her into the quarry pond

She is the only impartial witness to the events leading to Tracey's fall into the quarry pond

She must clear her name after being accused of pushing Tracey into the quarry pond

She is the only witness to Anita pushing Tracey into the pond and must provide her friend with an alibi

Anita's evidence clears Sam and Anita from Tracey's accusations. The novel begins with Meena's recollection of being forced to admit to having lied to her father and ends with her giving a completely unembroidered, truthful account of Tracey's accident to the police

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)