Compare and contrast 'White Teeth' by Zadie
             Smith and 'Anita and Me' by Meera Syal
             Zadie Smith's White Teeth is about three different cultures, and three families spanning three generations. Characters include Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, best friends who spend their teenage years together and raise families in the Cricklewood area of London. The novel follows their experiences in the war and later on, the exploits of their families as they grow up and mature.
             Anita and Me by Meera Syal is a semi-autobiographical novel about Meena Kumar, a young Punjabi girl growing up in Tollington, a small mining village somewhere between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It details Meena's desperate attempts to be accepted by Anita Rutter, leader of the local 'in-crowd', and her desire for a 'normal English life' with '...fish fingers! Fried! And chips!, .
             Anita and Me and White Teeth are the first works from the authors, who are both English-born Indians. They share a number of themes such as family relationships, history, language and dialect, location and religion. Family relationships in both novels are seen to be intimate and caring, and the arrival of Meena's grandmother in Anita and Me demonstrates the ease and comfort with which the family lives:
             'I knew Nanima was going to be fun when she rolled
             backwards into the farty settee and let out a howl of laughter.'
             And similarly in White Teeth the loving family arrangement is portrayed in numerous places:
             '... a very happy marriage...'
             '... she'd be satisfied.'
             '... she would challenge anyone to show her a happier marriage
             Relationships in White Teeth could also be described as somewhat unconventional because of the nature of the inter-personal relationships between some of the characters in parts of the novel, f0or example the progressive relations...