Previous
Prologue
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 now three years later, and Sephy is enjoying a beautiful August afternoon on the beach with her best friend, Callum. Callum, though, asks out of the blue if he can kiss her, just to see what it’s like. Sephy wrinkles her nose—kissing is “feeble”—but she agrees. It takes a minute to decide who tilts their head which direction, and Sephy is disgusted when Callum licks his lips. But then, Sephy watches Callum lean in until their lips meet. They both close their eyes—until Callum sticks his tongue in Sephy’s mouth.
Sephy reads as extremely young and innocent here, given that she’s not yet sexually mature enough to be interested in kissing. Callum’s interest in kissing shows how much older and more mature he is than Sephy. But because Sephy and Callum are good friends, Sephy is willing to experiment for Callum’s sake—even if she doesn’t yet see the point of kissing.
Themes
Sephy pulls away, disgusted, but then agrees to try again. Callum kisses Sephy gently. At first his tongue is gross, but then it feels nice and Sephy kisses him back. Her heart starts to thump, and she pulls away. Callum apologizes and says the kiss was just okay, which annoys Sephy. At Sephy’s prodding, Callum says he hasn’t kissed any other Cross girls, or nought girls. He wanted to kiss Sephy because she’s a friend. Sephy turns back to the sea. She loves her family’s private beach, which stretches for miles. She and Callum have their special spot at one end, where they’ve made a hole in the fence.
Despite initially not being interested, Sephy is starting to see the allure of kissing—suggesting that, after all, she’s starting to grow up. Describing the beach reveals several things. First, it shows how immensely wealthy the Hadleys are—they own miles of private beach. Then, noting that Sephy and Callum have a secret spot on one end—with a hole in the fence that presumably Callum uses—suggests that they’re not supposed to be spending time together.
Themes
Sephy realizes Callum is looking at her with an odd expression on his face. He says he’s thinking about what it would be like to be the only two people in the world and asks if Sephy ever thinks of running away. But then, bitterly, Callum says there’s no point: the whole world is the same, so he doesn’t know where he'd go. When Sephy insists the world isn’t so bad, Callum says it depends on one’s point of view—and Sephy, unlike Callum, is on the inside. Sephy says she’d run away with Callum, but he’d soon be bored of her.
This passage establishes how privileged Sephy is. As Callum notes, as a Cross, Sephy is on “the inside,” by which he means to say that the world is designed to work for Sephy. Callum, as a nought, doesn’t enjoy this kind of privilege. He also makes it clear that he’s going to suffer no matter where in the world he goes, which shows racism is a widespread problem in the novel’s world, not just in this particular country.
Themes
Sighing, Callum says they need to get on with their tutoring session. Sephy is disappointed; she’d hoped Callum would say he’d never get bored of her. It’s too beautiful to work on homework, but Callum says he doesn’t want to give the teachers at Sephy’s school any reason to kick him out. Sephy points out that Callum is being cynical; he was accepted, so he’ll be fine. She says it’d be great if he ended up in her class and is surprised when Callum doesn’t immediately agree. Callum admits that it’s humiliating for the noughts to be stuck in the “baby class.” Sephy resents this—she’s almost 14, after all—but Callum points out that he’ll be 16 in six months, and he’ll be in class with 12- and 13-year-olds.
Again, it’s a sign of how privileged Sephy is that she doesn’t see the point in working on homework, and doesn’t understand how demeaning it is for Callum to be in class with kids two to three years younger. Callum seems anxious to impress and not give anyone at his new school a reason to get upset with him, something that Sephy seems to have never considered. Sephy also seems naïve and innocent when she says she’d love to have Callum in her class—she hasn’t considered that this might be even more of a humiliating experience for him.
Themes
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Sephy points out that it just makes sense; Callum is a year behind. Callum bitterly says that’s not his fault; recently, noughts were only allowed to be educated until age 14, at underfunded noughts-only schools. He spits that he only got into Heathcroft because Sephy helps him. Sephy feels like she needs to apologize, but she’s not sure what for. She pulls out her schoolbooks and she and Callum jokingly discuss the merits of math, which according to Callum will be the language humans use to communicate with aliens. He suggests that Sephy think “above and beyond just us.” Sephy retorts that her mind is free, but Callum says, “There’s more to life than just us noughts and you Crosses.”
Callum starts to introduce readers to the novel’s highly segregated society, in which noughts are undereducated, don’t get as much government support as Crosses, and don’t seem to have as much power to change things. Sephy, as a member of the powerful group (as a Cross and a wealthy one at that), doesn’t quite get it. Why, she reasons, should she have to apologize when it’s not like she’s responsible for keeping Callum down? But Callum obliquely encourages Sephy to consider why divides based on skin color exist at all, and how Sephy could help make things more equal.
Themes
Sephy objects to Callum’s word choice—saying it that way makes it seem like there’s a huge wall between noughts and Crosses. Callum says there might be, but Sephy isn’t convinced. Annoyed, they finally open Sephy’s math textbook. Normally, Sephy can tell Callum anything. But suddenly it seems like Callum is much older and wiser than 15. Sephy feels her exact age: a month from turning 14.
Again, it’s a sign that Sephy is both privileged and sheltered that she doesn’t believe there’s a wall between noughts and Crosses. She seems to reason that because she and Callum are friends, things must be okay. Callum implies, though, that things aren’t. This helps explain why he seems so much older: he doesn’t think the world is as perfect as Sephy does.
Themes
Later, Callum says they should head home. Sephy suggests she go to Callum’s for the evening, but Callum refuses. Sephy asks why she can’t come to Callum’s house anymore, and asks if it’s because of Lynette. Callum spits that it has nothing to do with Lynette and walks Sephy to the stone steps leading up to the Hadleys’ grand country house. It’s huge for only four people, and Sephy notices Callum flinch at the sight of the house. He asks for a hug and hugs Sephy so hard it hurts. Then he runs away, refusing to answer if he’ll see Sephy at school tomorrow. Sephy is so confused.
It's still a mystery what happened to Lynette at the end of the prologue, but it seems like whatever happened has changed things at Callum’s house. At the very least, Sephy is no longer welcome there. Callum flinching at the sight of Sephy’s house, though, shows that he’s not welcome there anymore, either. Hugging Sephy so hard it hurts introduces an element of violence and pain to Sephy and Callum’s relationship. They’re friends, and they have feelings for each other, but those feelings are confusingly intertwined with pain.
Themes
Mother’s shouting breaks Sephy’s reverie. She clearly hasn’t had enough wine yet, since she’s in a terrible mood. Mother scolds Sephy for being out late and drags her into the house. She doesn’t notice Sephy scowling at her. Sephy knows Mother wants her to be perfect like Sephy’s older sister, Minerva, whom Sephy calls Minnie to annoy her. Sephy thinks about her kiss with Callum—it was amazing. But the day wasn’t perfect, since Sephy and Callum had to creep around. “If only Callum wasn’t a nought.”
The way Sephy describes Mother suggests she has a drinking problem, which makes Sephy feel unsupported at home. And more generally, Sephy feels like she’s not good enough. Noting that things between her and Callum aren’t as good as they could be since Callum is a nought shows how racism and segregation are shaping Sephy and Callum’s relationship: they can’t openly be in love.
Themes
