Autobiography Anita and me - Essay Example

150). The book is a semi-autobiography and is loosely based on the life of the author, Meera Syal. It is set in the background of a once flourishing mining village, Tollington, which was on its decline by the early 1970s. When the mines shut down, the men find themselves idle and out of work. The towns women, assertive and now in control, worked at the local ball-bearing factory and formed a group calling themselves the Ballbearings Committee. A highway threatens to take away part of the village, the grammar school is closing down, and the village thus faces many threats of doom and ruin.

This is the background setting in which Meena sets out to discover her life. Bored with her mundane life, Meena is looking for some excitement to break the monotony of her life. "When would anything dangerous and cruel ever happen to me?" (Syal, Pg. 37). Her diary is her refuge and she takes to it to float into her dream world where she finds a life very different from the one she leads. This is beyond the understanding of her parents, who believe in hard work, proper education and take pride in their heritage.

Meenas mother is portrayed as a soft-spoken, slender, well educated and poised lady. She plays the dual role of a professional teacher and an untiring housewife. Born in a village in Punjab and rich in her traditions, she doesnt lose sight of her values even as she lives in the racist neighborhood. "It was her duty to show them that we could wear discreet gold jewellery, dress in tasteful silks and speak English without an accent" (Syal, Pg. 25). She runs her house with an iron fist, not wasting a penny on what she deems as unnecessary.

"My mother never eats out, never, always affronted by paying for some over-boiled, under seasoned dish of slop when she knew she could rustle up a hot, heart-warming meal from a few left-over vegetables and a