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 lets herself into Minnie’s room and stops herself from giggling when Minnie throws a pillow at her. Sephy asks Minnie’s advice about going away to Chivers. She says that Mother said no. Minnie says boarding school is a great idea, which is why she also asked to go away to school. Sephy is shocked. Sighing, Minnie says maybe the two of them would be happier if they’d relied on each other, but instead, Sephy drinks to escape and Minnie gets nastier. Sephy insists she doesn’t drink except for the taste. When Minnie asks if she’s just trying to convince herself of that, Sephy bursts into tears.
Minnie frames her and Sephy’s difficult relationship as something totally past fixing. In her mind, things are the way they are, and it’s no use trying to connect to each other. This starts to explain why Sephy’s family is so distant, if Minnie picked up this mindset from her parents. However, Minnie does force Sephy to confront that her drinking is becoming problematic, so perhaps the sisters’ relationship isn’t all lost.
Themes
Minnie puts an arm around Sephy and says she’s been talking to Mr. Hadley about them both going away to school. She thinks she’s making progress. Bitterly, Sephy says their dad doesn’t care about them as much as he cares about politics and his career—they’ve barely seen him since he’s been home. Minnie promises that by September, they’ll both be gone.
Even if Minnie accepts that she and Sephy are never going to be close friends, she shows here that she does care about helping Sephy be happy and successful. But Sephy focuses only on the fact that she still feels alone; Mr. Hadley’s neglect is the most important thing in Sephy’s mind.
Themes
