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
Sephy is livid. She’s in the living room with Mother, Mr. Hadley, and Minnie, and Minnie has told their parents that Sephy is pregnant. This must be payback for Sephy calling her Minnie instead of Minerva. Now, everyone knows and it’s all Minnie’s fault. Sephy will never forgive her. Mr. Hadley says the only option is to deal with this “quickly and discreetly:” he’s booked Sephy an appointment tomorrow. She won’t be pregnant tomorrow evening.
It's somewhat childish and petty of Sephy to think that Minnie told their parents because Sephy continues to use a childish nickname for her. Sephy’s pregnancy is on a totally different level than sibling squabbles. For Mr. Hadley, the fix for Sephy’s pregnancy is clear: make it go away. His insistence that Sephy get an abortion shows that he thinks he has the power to dictate what Sephy does.
Themes
Sephy is shocked and asks if her parents really want her to get an abortion. Mother asks if Sephy really wants “the bastard child of a raping blanker,” but Mr. Hadley answers: Sephy doesn’t. He tells Sephy she should’ve spoken up months ago, when they could’ve dealt with it privately. Mother and Dad assure Sephy that it’ll be over soon, and she certainly can’t think straight in her condition. Sephy marvels that finally, her parents are united—and she made that happen. Mr. Hadley suggests that they should all go on vacation soon so Sephy can put this all behind her.
To Mother and Mr. Hadley, it’s inconceivable that Sephy might have consented to sex, or that she might want to continue her pregnancy. This shows how Sephy’s society thinks of love between noughts and Crosses: if it happens, it’s not genuine and was instead coerced. For Sephy, this is bewildering. Her parents don’t understand at all, and it’s not much consolation that it seems like she inadvertently saved her parents’ marriage.
Themes
Softly, Sephy says she’s not going to the clinic. She’s keeping her baby. Mr. Hadley is incredulous, but Sephy says it again. Mr. Hadley notes that everyone knows how the baby was conceived, and Sephy will be pitied and scorned for the rest of her life. Sephy insists she doesn’t care.
When Sephy refuses to terminate her pregnancy, she asserts her independence and her burgeoning adulthood. She no longer needs her parents to make her choices for her.
Themes
