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
When Callum sits down for dinner, he realizes everyone at the table wears the same sour expression. Mum asks what’s wrong with everyone, but Lynette says she’s going for a walk. She goes upstairs for a bit and then everyone watches her grab her jacket. She says, “Bye, everyone,” gives a sad smile, and walks out. Then, Mum asks Dad to tell her what happened. When he’s done three hours later, Mum glares at Dad, Jude, and Callum in turn. She asks where her daughter is and says that Dad is the most useless man she’s ever met if she couldn’t keep Jude and Lynette from fighting.
Lynette’s goodbye is ominous—this is awfully final for just going on a walk. This is especially true since she’s gone for hours, something Mum seems to find concerning. Mum finding out about the fight between Jude, Lynette, and Callum also starts to distance the family members from each other. Mum no longer trusts Dad to protect their children, and Mum seems to fear that her sons have driven Lynette away.
Themes
Jude insists it wasn’t Dad’s fault, so Mum turns on him. She scolds him for goading Lynette and tells him to get an honest job at the bakery. Jude says he doesn’t want an honest job—he wants to go to school. This is news to Callum, since Jude has been unbearable since Callum was accepted to Heathcroft. Jude insists that Mum and Dad don’t care about him, so he’ll leave. But as he throws open the front door, he stops—there are two policemen on the step.
In this moment, Callum realizes how little he knows Jude. Jude doesn’t seem all that different from Callum, since he wants an education. And like in Callum’s case, racist societal forces have gotten in the way of Jude attending school. Jude also implies that he craves parental support, but Mum and Dad aren’t able to support him in the way he’d prefer.
Themes
The policemen ask to come in. The sergeant introduces himself as Sergeant Collins, and he says he has bad news: Lynette walked in front of a bus. It was no one’s fault, and she died instantly. Callum knows it’s his fault as Collins says Lynette is in the morgue of the local hospital. Mum sinks to the ground, howling, and then goes quiet. Collins leaves his business card for Dad and then leaves. A moment later, Mum pulls away from Dad and says that everyone must be proud of themselves—was Lynette thinking of what Dad, Jude, and Callum said when she walked in front of the bus?
It's interesting that Callum instantly blames himself for Lynette’s death. He feels like he failed at supporting Lynette and mediating her relationship with Jude. Mum, on the other hand, blames everyone else for Lynette’s death. She makes the case that because Dad wasn’t able to protect Lynette from Jude (and she ropes Callum in here), Lynette was too upset to pay attention to her surroundings. Mum also seems to believe that Lynette’s death was an accident—while Lynette’s final-sounding goodbye suggests Lynette may have stepped in front of the bus on purpose.
Themes
