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
Mum and Callum hold hands and wait for the foreman to speak. The judge asks the foreman if they found Ryan guilty of political terrorism. The foreman says something, but Callum doesn’t hear it. Around Callum, people are in shock and bury their faces in their hands. Mum looks frozen. Callum doesn’t know why he can’t hear the foreman. But when the judge asks if the jury finds Ryan guilty of murdering a woman, Callum hears the verdict.
Though Callum doesn’t share explicitly what the jury’s verdict is, given the reactions of people around Callum and Mum, they’ve found Dad guilty. This drives home that the justice system in Sephy and Callum’s world isn’t just or fair. Readers know Dad is innocent, and yet he’s convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.
Themes
