3.2.1.10The text at a glance
Meena Kumar lives in Tollington, the only Punjabi family in a declining mining village. She idolises the older, wilder Anita Rutter and lies to fit in. Her grandmother Nanima arrives from India; Meena breaks her leg; Sam Lowbridge's racism becomes explicit. Meena passes her grammar school exam and the family moves away.
Set in 1972 and published in 1996. The National Front was active, Enoch Powell's 1968 speech had inflamed feeling, and Midlands mining communities were beginning a long decline.
- bildungsroman
- a novel of growing up
- retrospective narration
- an adult narrator recounting a childhood, allowing irony
- the National Front
- a far-right party active in Britain in the period
3.2.1.10Characters
Meena's lying is an attempt to author a self that fits the village, and the adult narrator judges the child without the reader having to.
Anita's confidence and cruelty attract Meena precisely because they are unavailable to her; the friendship is unequal from the first scene.
Nanima models a confidence indifferent to English approval, and gives Meena a past she can be proud of.
3.2.1.10Themes
Identity is negotiated between the family's culture and the village's. Racism is voiced by characters the reader has been encouraged to like, which denies easy judgement, and the novel places casual language beside actual violence. Growing up is marked by moral choices rather than by events.
Common mistake
Treating Tollington as simply hostile. The novel is affectionate about the village and about the family, and the discomfort comes from holding both.
3.2.1.10The writer's methods
The comic voice makes the racism land harder by contrast, and Meena's self-deprecation keeps the reader sympathetic through her worst behaviour. The retrospective narration means the reader always knows more than the child did.
Worked example
Answer:
- Lying is Meena's attempt to author a self
- Racism is voiced by likeable characters
- Nanima offers confidence without English approval
- Comedy sharpens rather than softens the subject
AO1-AO4How this text is examined
This text is examined in Paper 2, Section A. The question is worth 34 marks and two essay questions are offered on your text and you answer one; no extract is printed, so quotations must come from memory. Allow about 45 minutes.
The marks are divided as AO1 12 marks, AO2 12 marks, AO3 6 marks, AO4 4 marks. AO1 rewards a clear argument supported by well-chosen references. AO2 rewards analysis of how the writer achieves an effect, which means writing about choices rather than about events. AO3 rewards context used to deepen a reading of the text.
Common mistake
Retelling the plot. Narrative summary earns nothing under any assessment objective, however accurate it is. Every paragraph should be making a point about how or why, not about what happens.
Four of the marks are for AO4: vocabulary and sentence structures used to control meaning, and accurate spelling and punctuation. These are the cheapest marks on the paper and the easiest to lose by rushing the final paragraph.