The man who had to teach himself to lie

Syal uses Meena's complex relationship with honesty and truth to symbolise broader developments in her personality as she comes of age over the course of the novel. At the beginning of the narrative, Meena upsets her family by stealing sweets from Mr Ormerod's grocery store. For Meena, this is a form of rebellion and a way of pushing back against the pressure she feels to conform to social and family expectations. As the daughter of immigrants, she feels that she is not free to fully express herself and resents the discipline that her family imposes on her. This reflects her initial discomfort with her Indian heritage. The excitement and sense of purpose that she derives from lying are worsened by the friendship that she forms with Anita, who encourages (and pressures) Meena to engage in bad behaviour. However, over the course of the novel, Meena is forced by personal tragedy and difficult social relationships to leave behind childish fantasies and face up to reality. This process of maturing, imposed on her at a young age due to her immigrant background, is symbolised by her eventual embrace of honesty over lies at the end of the novel.

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In a sense, every stage of Meena's life has been influenced by Britain's colonialWhen a region or country is controlled politically by another. legacy, a dynamic of which she seems only partially aware. Her father, Mr Kumar, mentions that he and her mother met during the chaos of the partitionIn 1947, the British Raj was split into India and Pakistan. of British India. Their decision to migrate to the UK, which came at great personal cost to both, was motivated by their desire to give Meena better economic prospects than those that they had experienced as refugeesAnyone fleeing conflict or persecution is defined as a refugee by the UN as a refugee, regardless of where they are from. of partition. Meena's consciousness of Britain's colonial legacy is shown when she explains her attraction to dishonesty as a consequence of being robbed of her own history, which leads her to invent a reality of her own in its place. For example, she notes that her school textbooks fail to teach her about her cultural heritage in an honest or respectful way, and are instead dominated by pro-colonial Western narratives. Furthermore, Meena's expressed desire for a "whiter" appearance implies that colonialism has shaped her sense of self-worth and has led her to develop an insecure relationship with her Indian heritage. Syal suggests that the legacy of British imperialismThe practice of growing a country's power through colonisation or force. is personal, not just social or historical, and endures long after decolonisation has formally taken place.

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In the novel, there is a clear pattern by which dysfunctionalNot working properly. families produce racially prejudiced and ill-behaved children, whereas healthy family dynamics serve as a crucial form of support and help children to grow up and mature. Anita Rutter's flaws - her selfish, bullying and racist behaviour - are inseparable from her troubled family background, as the daughter of a neglectful mother and an abusive father. Sam Lowbridge's prejudice, likewise, is traceable to his upbringing in a poor, single-parent family. This relationship is replicated at the level of Tollington as a whole - as a community, it is both economically depressed and racially prejudiced. Syal therefore suggests that racism - though always morally unacceptable - cannot be separated from its broader social context. Meena, on the other hand, benefits from her caring family dynamic. Her family support network is deep and wide, from parents who left behind their dreams and families in India to give her the best possible chances in life, to a humorous and sympathetic grandmother, and a baby brother who is born during the novel. She even benefits from a form of second family, as the other South Asian immigrants in the village become her "Uncles" and "Aunties". Meena does not initially recognise the value of this support network, seeing it as overly rigid. This reflects the importance of the support networks that immigrants must form as a survival mechanism in an unwelcoming society.

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Tollington is an unwelcoming space overall for Meena and her family. Mr and Mrs Kumar face both everyday forms of racism, while the South Asian community as a whole is victimised by Sam Lowbridge's racist diatribeAn angry speech that severely criticises something. at the Spring Fete, of the major community events on the Tollington village calendar. Meena becomes increasingly conscious of the racism prevalentCommon. in the community over the course of the novel. This reflects the historical context in which the novel is set. In the 1960s and 1970s, Britain saw a growth of racist hate groups, especially after Enoch PowellA British politician who is known for making a racist speech against immigration in 1968. 's "Rivers of Blood" speech in 1968, but also a corresponding rise in anti-racist activism. Syal makes clear that immigrants do not passively succumbFail to resist a negative force, or die from an illness or injury. to the racism that is directed at them. Meena's parents find a supportive community in Tollington by befriending other South Asian immigrants and their families. Ultimately, Meena's aspiration, combined with the support of her parents, enable them to leave Tollington as she passes her 11+ exam and they move closer to her new grammar schoolIn the UK, a state secondary school that select pupils with high marks in an exam taken at age 11. . This also means moving on from Anita, symbolic of the dark side of the village community, as the two never speak again. This represents the permanence of Meena's departure from the unwelcoming community that Tollington represented in their lives.

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Is Britain a racist country? The Conservatives' biggest donor is in the spotlight for allegedly making racist remarks - and the party has made things worse by being slow to
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Syal presents identity as a complex and flexible condition. One device that she uses as a shorthand for identity is language. Meena's confused, mixed identity is shown by her tendency to speak and sing in PunjabiA language spoken in the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has roughly 113 million native speakers. , with a Birmingham accent. Her baby brother's first words, likewise, are spoken in a combination of English and Punjabi. This reflects their mixed identities as Indian and Britain. Meena's grandmother, Nanima, only speaks Punjabi, reflecting her continued connection to India. Mrs Kumar, finally, maintains a deliberately split identity, speaking English in the village but Punjabi at home and with the family's South Asian friends. Syal thus uses language as a shorthand for each character's sense of belonging in their adopted community. Friendship is also an important source of identity. Meena's friendship with Anita comes at a time in her life when she is certain and insecure about her identity, leading to an unequal relationship in which she is more of a follower than a friend. Anita worsens, rather than challenges, Meena's insecurity about her sense of belonging. Meena later has a relationship with a sick boy, Sam, which teaches her the value of mutual respect in friendships and love. In the end, Meena comes to understand that she can reconcile her British and Indian identities, feeling shame and insecurity in neither.

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