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
Callum dumps his school supplies onto his bottom bunk. He has the required items, but he feels like he’s missing something. Callum tells himself he’s lucky as he repacks his bag. Mum knocks on the door and lets herself in. She takes over packing the school supplies and says that no matter what happens, she’d like to congratulate Callum on getting into Heathcroft. Callum asks what she means by this, but Mum says she just wants Callum to be happy and not get hurt. She says Callum might not totally understand the “challenge” of attending Heathcroft. Some Crosses aren’t happy about noughts getting in, and Callum cannot lash out.
Finally, Mum starts to imply that she’s unsupportive of Callum attending Heathcroft because she’s worried for his emotional wellbeing, if not his physical safety. Her word choice suggests that she’s being deliberately vague about the “challenge[s]” Callum might face as one of the first noughts to integrate Heathcroft. But still, she wants to support Callum, which is why she opens this conversation by praising him for getting in. It’s not that she doesn’t want him to get an education—she doesn’t want him to get hurt.
Themes
Callum assures Mum he’ll be good—and nothing can get him out of Heathcroft now. She asks if he’s too old for a goodnight kiss. Realizing the kiss is for her benefit, not his, Callum offers Mum his cheek, but she laughs at his annoyed look instead. They both head downstairs, but Mum stops abruptly on the stairs and says she is proud of Callum. Callum didn’t know this; it’s seemed like Mum wanted him to fail the entrance exam.
Mum may very well have wanted Callum to fail the entrance exam, if only because she fears that attending Heathcroft will put Callum at risk. But throughout this passage, Callum reads as naïve and very young—he seems totally innocent regarding the struggles he might face at school.
Themes
In the living room, Dad and Lynette are on the couch and Jude is at the table with a map. Noticing the look on Lynette’s face, Callum asks if she remembers his seventh birthday. It doesn’t work: Lynette says she doesn’t belong here, since she’s a Cross. Jude scornfully says Lynette is white like the rest of them. He says coddling Lynette for this mental illness is ridiculous, and Callum also thinks he’s better than the rest of the family. Jude insists he’s the only kid in the family who knows what he is.
Finally, readers get a look at exactly what plagues Lynette: delusions that she’s a Cross and not a nought (though it’s still not clear how this developed, or why). Jude is extremely fed up with, it seems, his entire family. He suggests that they should be secure about, if not proud of, who and what they are—and that going along with Lynette when she experiences these episodes, or approving of Callum attending Heathcroft, means family members are ashamed of their race.
Themes
Jude and Callum both leap up at the same time, but Dad steps between them. Lynette says she’s obviously not a nought—she doesn’t behave badly like her brothers. Lynette happily holds out her arm and says her skin is beautiful and dark, and she’s closer to God because she’s a Cross. Jude mutters that she’s “stupid,” but Callum agrees with Lynette—whose skin is so pale it’s translucent—that she’s beautiful.
Lynette establishes here that Crosses believe that noughts naturally behave terribly, something that will be important later. She also shares some of the reasons Crosses insist they’re superior: part of their superiority comes from their religious beliefs that elevate them above people of other skin colors.
Themes
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