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Chapter 18
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
Math class seems to drag on forever. When it’s finally over, Sephy sweeps her things into her schoolbag, desperate to leave. But Callum asks her to wait and asks how she’s doing. She says she’s fine. When Callum says he’s glad, Sephy says he doesn’t actually care, since he didn’t visit or send a card. Callum says he did visit, but Mrs. Hadley wouldn’t let him in. Sephy knows he’s telling the truth. As they stand up, aware everyone is watching them, Callum asks Sephy to meet him at their spot after dinner—but he’ll understand if she’s not there.
Sephy is struggling with possibly losing her best friend, and it’s also hard to accept that she doesn’t know how to be a good ally to nought friends. But here, Callum lets Sephy know that this isn’t just a friendship issue: Sephy’s family is working very hard to keep them apart and make things difficult. This continues to push Sephy further away from her family members and causes her to trust them less.
Themes
