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
It’s a beautiful evening on the beach, but Sephy is miserable. She asks Callum to say something—she said she’s sorry, and it’s “just a word” after all. Callum explains that the fact that Sephy used that word will always hurt. Crying, Sephy says she didn’t mean Callum and was trying to help. He suggests they see less of each other, but Sephy says Callum is her best friend. She needs him. Callum asks her to promise to not use that word again. Sephy doesn’t get it—it’s just a word—but she sees it’s hurting her friend. She promises.
To Sephy, “blanker” is “just a word” because she hasn’t ever had to fully confront what the word means. Callum described in the previous chapter that “blanker” means that a person is worth nothing, and is a waste of time and space—it’s extremely hurtful. And it’s even worse to hear something like that coming from a friend. Sephy shows that she’s trying to be a good friend, though, when she decides that she might not understand, but that it’s still essential to never use the word again.
Themes
Sephy procrastinates heading home. Callum puts his coat around her shoulders when she shivers, and Sephy leans her head on Callum’s shoulder. He doesn’t seem to appreciate it. Sephy vows to never use the word again. Callum speaks up finally and says that they can be friends outside of school, but they shouldn’t talk at school. He doesn’t want Sephy’s other friends to abandon her. Sephy insists that’s silly, but Callum stands up. Sephy says she’s staying on the beach for a while and watches him walk away. She feels like a spectator to her life now, and she realizes she has a choice to make: what kind of a friend she wants Callum to be. It’s upsetting to think about it.
Sephy is trying to act like everything is normal between her and Callum. For Callum, things aren’t normal—so Sephy leaning her head on his shoulder isn’t innocuous right now. Rather, it makes it seem like she’s doing what Mr. Hadley did when he called Sephy back for a hug after frightening her: trying to use physical affection to make past abuse seem less bad. Sephy also struggles knowing that she’s going to have to work harder to be Callum’s friend going forward. Their easy days of friendship are over.
Themes
