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Chapter 114
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
Mr. Hadley barges into Sephy’s room without knocking. It’s nearly midnight. Wearily, he sits down and says that Callum is going to hang—but Sephy can stop it. Mr. Hadley says he can only save Callum if Sephy agrees to have an abortion. When Sephy asks why, Mr. Hadley says Sephy is too young to have a baby, and she was raped. Sephy notes that she’s too far along to have an abortion, but Mr. Hadley says it’s still possible. Sephy asks if her dad is going to kidnap and force her to have an abortion if she refuses. Hurt, Mr. Hadley says he’d never do that, but Sephy says he’s still pressuring her by forcing her to choose between Callum and her baby’s life. Mr. Hadley says it’s Sephy’s choice and leaves.
Especially since readers just saw Mr. Hadley attempting to manipulate Callum, it’s clear that Mr. Hadley is just doing everything he can to try to get Sephy to agree to an abortion. Though he insists he won’t force her to terminate the pregnancy, he also doesn’t treat her with respect (barging into her room, slapping and insulting her earlier in the novel), so Sephy’s question seems well founded. Mr. Hadley is also still insisting that Sephy was raped, which shows that he still believes that true love between noughts and Crosses is impossible.
Themes
Sephy knows that if she chooses Callum, he won’t be in prison forever. When he gets out, they can be together and have more children. But would they be able to live with the ghost of their first child? Sephy knows she doesn’t have a choice, and she asks God to help her.
Sephy makes something of an effort to consider Mr. Hadley’s offer—she knows it would give her a life with Callum. But when she asks God for help, it seems as though she’s choosing her baby: she needs help coming to terms with this choice.
Themes
