Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Noughts and Crosses, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism, Division, and Tragedy
Awareness and Privilege
Love, Lust, Power, and Violence
Friendship
Youth, Innocence, and Growing Up
Family
Summary
Analysis
After a long, tense silence, Callum asks Jude what happened. Jude asks Callum the same, but then says that Leila is arrested and Pete is dead—there were undercover police everywhere. The only reason he and Morgan got away is because they switched their locations at the last moment. Looking at Sephy, Jude says he thought they could take Sephy somewhere else, but now things have changed. Callum knows he’s effectively killed himself and Sephy.
Things are starting to fall apart for this LM cell after the disastrous pickup operation, and because Sephy and Callum have had sex. Jude makes it clear to Callum that Callum is in deep trouble now. Callum has shown the LM that his loyalty lies with Sephy, not with them—so now both Callum and Sephy are liabilities.
Themes
Once Jude sends Morgan away, he asks why Sephy is crying and wearing her sweater inside-out. Callum blushes but says nothing, and Jude spits that they could’ve let Sephy go no matter what Andrew said, but now that Callum has raped Sephy, they’ll have no choice but to kill her if they want to live. As Jude starts to insult Callum, Callum punches Jude to the ground. In moments, the boys are fighting hard—but then Jude shouts that Sephy is running away. Jude shouts for Morgan as they run out into the moonlit night. They see Sephy plunge into the woods. Callum has to find her before Jude or Morgan do.
Jude assumes that Callum raped Sephy because Sephy is crying—it looks like she didn’t want to have sex. But Jude also assumes this because, in their society, genuine love between noughts and Crosses is thought not to exist—and it’s punished when it does happen. This, for instance, is why Lynette and Jed were beaten almost to death. Things get even more complicated when Sephy then escapes. It seems less likely that Jude will be able to fix things now.
Themes
