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 shuts down her computer. Tomorrow is the first day of school, and she’s not excited for it. She is excited that four noughts, including Callum, will start at her school. As she creeps downstairs for a drink, she asks God to let Callum be in her class and imagines showing him around the school. Sephy then thinks of Mother, who suddenly became humorless and miserable about three years ago. Her dad, Mr. Hadley, is still fun, when he’s around; he’s in politics and is never home.
Having a computer at all marks Sephy as privileged compared to Callum (the novel was written in 2001, before a computer in every home was commonplace). Sephy reads as very young and naïve. She seems unaware of how racist her world might be, and she’s surprisingly incurious about why her parents are the way they are. She sees them as authority figures only, not as real people.
Themes
As Sephy hits the bottom step, she hears Mr. Hadley angrily saying that the “bleeding-heart liberals in the Pangaean Economic Community” make him sick—they’re forcing him to let “blankers” into schools and the police force, and the Liberation Militia still isn’t happy. Another man is with Dad, and he says the Liberation Militia will just keep demanding more things. Sephy is shocked. She’s never heard Dad use “blanker,” a horrible slur, to refer to noughts before. The guest tells Dad about the struggles he’s having working his way up the ranks of the Liberation Militia, and he insists it’s dangerous to keep meeting in person. Dad insists on a monthly meeting anyway.
This is a turning point for Sephy. It’s not entirely clear how much she knew about Mr. Hadley’s political views before this, but hearing him spew such racist rhetoric comes as a shock. In particular, hearing him use the slur “blanker” is something Sephy finds very disturbing. Note that Mr. Hadley doesn’t seem to acknowledge that his guest, whoever he is, seems to be making dangerous sacrifices to meet in person—a mark of Mr. Hadley’s privilege and entitlement.
Themes
Sephy creeps closer as Mr. Hadley grouses that he hates that “blankers” are going to Sephy’s school—he wouldn’t have changed the education bill had he thought any would pass the entrance exam. Sephy is hurt. She creeps forward until she can see Mr. Hadley’s reflection in a mirror. To her surprise, she also sees that Mr. Hadley’s guest is a nought, with a ponytail and brown boots with chains over the heels. None of this makes sense; noughts don’t come to the house unless they’re staff.
In his political life, Mr. Hadley seems to be trying to walk a fine line: he wants to look progressive, but not actually implement policies that will be progressive in practice. The fact that noughts passed the seemingly difficult entrance exams shows that those students are intelligent—but Mr. Hadley isn’t willing to see those students as kids like Sephy, who deserve a good education.
Themes
Sephy accidentally trips over the phone cord, attracting Mr. Hadley’s attention. Enraged, he comes into the hallway and demands to know what Sephy heard. She sputters that she heard nothing and just wants a drink. Trying hard to be casual, Sephy gets a glass of water and walks slowly back upstairs. As she reaches the top, Mr. Hadley calls her back for a hug. He apologizes for yelling and asks if Sephy is still his princess. She nods that she is.
Mr. Hadley starts to look somewhat dangerous in this passage—this may be the first time Sephy is really aware that her father can be volatile. Calling Sephy back for a hug is a way to try to smooth over the fact that he seriously scared his daughter, and it shows Sephy that she’ll have to police her behavior to stay in her father’s good graces.
Themes
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