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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
Mercy Hospital—the noughts’ hospital—is in chaos, with all the noughts injured in the mall bombing in the emergency room. Callum wonders how Jude feels about seeing “the result of his handiwork,” but Jude stares at the floor and asks Mum constantly if she’s okay. Mum finally snaps that she’s not okay and Jude should stop asking “stupid questions,” but she apologizes—she’s angry at Dad and lashing out. She tells Callum to go somewhere while she tells Jude something. Callum grumbles, but goes to stand by the broken vending machine.
For now, Callum seems to share Sephy’s negative feelings about the LM and the bombing: describing Jude’s “handiwork” connotes that Callum’s tone is sarcastic and upset. Jude reads as particularly young here—he wants to make sure Mum still loves him, even if she is angry with him. Callum is made to feel even younger when Mum sends him away while she tells Jude something that she clearly thinks is beyond Callum’s understanding.
Themes
Callum watches Jude’s face go white in response to whatever Mum says. Jude shakes his head emphatically; he doesn’t like what he’s hearing. When Callum can’t stand it any longer, he walks back to Mum and Jude. Jude runs away, and Mum refuses to tell Callum anything. When Jude returns 30 minutes later, he gives Mum a strange look.
All of this is extremely confusing for Callum—but readers don’t get any more information than Callum does, so what Mum says remains a mystery. But keeping Callum in the dark continues to distance him from his mother and brother, since they’re making him feel like an immature child.
Themes
Finally, a nurse calls Mum’s name. The nurse introduces herself as Nurse Carter and asks for Mum’s ID card—nought hospitals have been supposedly abusing their government grants, so now it’s policy that hospitals must gather ID information. Mum left her ID at home, so Nurse Carter says she’ll need cards from two people who can vouch for Mum. Mum is enraged, but Nurse Carter asks Jude for his ID card. Jude and Callum both offer their cards, and Nurse Carter swipes them through a card reader. The machine will store the boys’ details. Mum leaps up and tells the nurse to delete her sons’ information, but Nurse Carter says she’ll wipe the information as soon as Mum returns with her own ID card. Callum suddenly realizes why Mum is so uptight.
The system of government grants makes it clear that Mercy is a government hospital—so Jude and Callum’s identity information is going to be accessible to any government agents who might try to connect Jude to the mall bombing earlier. This is why Mum is so upset about her sons having to provide their information. But Mum can’t refuse to cooperate if she wants medical care, putting her in an impossible position—in order to get her finger fixed, she has to put her sons in potential danger.
Themes
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Nurse Carter then examines Mum’s hand. It takes an hour for an X-ray machine to become available, and almost another hour before a doctor can set Mum’s finger. As the doctor bandages the finger, he tells Mum she has to keep it dry for three weeks. Mum says she can’t—she’s a housemaid and won’t be able to clean. The doctor says she’ll never be able to use her finger again if she doesn’t let it heal. Finally, Mum is done. She approaches Nurse Carter’s office, knocks on the door, and says she’ll be back with her ID card tomorrow. Nurse Carter assures Mum she has nothing to worry about.
The amount of time that Mum, Callum, and Jude spend waiting for imaging and doctors highlights that this isn’t an efficient, well-funded hospital—the noughts presumably have poorer hospitals than the Crosses do. And again, Mum finds herself in an impossible position: she can’t support her family if she doesn’t work, but she can’t work for a short period if she wants to stay employed for the long term. This speaks to how desperate the McGregors’ finances are.
Themes
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