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 school, Sephy approaches her family’s Mercedes—but instead of Harry, a strange nought man who introduces himself as Karl, the new driver, gets out. He tells “Miss Sephy” that Harry moved on and promises to take a good luck card directly to Harry for Sephy. Sephy isn’t pleased. Harry wouldn’t just leave her; something must have happened. Suddenly afraid, Sephy asks if Karl really is the new driver. He offers to show her his ID, but Sephy says it’s okay. As Karl drives off, Sephy watches people pointing at the car. She got in so much trouble today for sitting with the noughts. She wouldn’t mind if Callum hadn’t turned his back on her. She’ll never forget it. Maybe Mother is right: Crosses and noughts can’t be friends.
As in the prologue, the power dynamic is highlighted in this passage when Karl goes by his first name, but he calls Sephy “Miss Sephy.” And again, Sephy has what may be a naïve and somewhat selfish understanding of her relationship to Harry. Harry was nice to Sephy, but he was also Mother’s employee—so Sephy may be idealizing their relationship, in addition to missing that Harry could’ve been fired. Sephy is also still making the fiasco at lunch all about her. She’s not showing any empathy for Callum—who’s hurting, angry, and at greater risk of harm than Sephy is, being a nought.
Themes
