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 already tired of her history class and it hasn’t even started—but luckily, Callum has this class too. Sephy refuses to let another friend sit next to her and waves to Callum when he enters the room. He looks away and sits next to a nought. Sephy is humiliated. She doesn’t care that Callum is a nought, and she wants everyone else to see that—so why would Callum do this to her? Mr. Jason comes in and begins the lesson. He’s in a foul mood and, for no reason at all, asks Callum if he’s “too poor to even pay attention.” Sephy glares at the teacher and realizes how she can show Callum she doesn’t care if others know they’re friends.
Sephy has good intentions; she’s trying to do the right thing by making Callum feel welcome. But she’s totally missing that Callum might not feel safe accepting her kindness—indeed, it might put them both at risk. And by characterizing Callum’s actions as a slight against her, Sephy makes this situation about how she looks to her peers and not about helping Callum. Put another way, Sephy is unwittingly prioritizing her own desires over Callum’s.
Themes
When the bell rings, Sephy is the first up and she barges past Mr. Jason. For this, he makes her wait until everyone else has left the room. Sephy finally enters the lunch hall. Her heart thumps as she collects her food and takes her tray to the table where all the noughts are sitting together. She asks to join them. Callum asks what Sephy thinks she’s doing, but she sits before anyone can tell her not to. She introduces herself to the nought girl, Shania, who has a dark brown band-aid on her forehead.
Again, Sephy totally ignores what Callum and the other noughts want (for her to not draw attention to them) and barges ahead. Now, the noughts are in a difficult position: if they tell Sephy to go away—even if their reasoning is totally valid—they’ll be considered the rude ones. Sitting with them will make Sephy look good, rather than making the noughts look like her equals.
Themes
Sephy tries to make small talk with Shania. When she notes that Shania’s band-aid is really obvious, Shania says they only sell dark brown ones. Sephy hasn’t thought of this before. Just then, the deputy headmistress appears and tells Sephy to go back to her own table. Sephy realizes she’s telling Sephy to get back to the other Crosses. The noughts aren’t looking at Sephy. When Sephy whispers that she’s sitting with her friend, the deputy headmistress hauls Sephy out of her chair and drags her to the headmaster’s office. Seeing Callum turn away, Sephy feels like she’s finally getting the message.
Sephy has never had to confront how racist her world is before. It’s designed for Black people like her—and it’s a shock to realize that noughts don’t move through the world as easily and happily as she does. The deputy headmistress pulling Sephy away reinforces that the school administration isn’t happy about the integration process, and they’re going to go out of their way to hinder it.
Themes
