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Chapter 63
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
As Mr. Corsa calls Callum into his office, Callum makes note of how fancy and imposing Mr. Corsa’s office is. He sits, and Mr. Corsa says that it’d be best if Callum was suspended for a while. Callum spits that Mr. Corsa thinks he’s guilty just because Dad is supposedly guilty, and Mr. Corsa must be thrilled—there’s only one more nought after Callum to run out of the school. When Mr. Corsa notes that Shania was expelled for “gross misconduct,” Callum shouts that Shania slapped a student because he slapped her first—and he only got a scolding.
Note that Mr. Corsa never gives any legitimate reason as to why Callum should be suspended. This implies that as Callum suggests, Mr. Corsa is more concerned with how it looks having the son of a supposed bomber in his school than with either the truth or Callum’s dignity. For Callum, the whole thing is ridiculous: he sees his suspension and Shania’s expulsion as part of an unfair plot to drive noughts out of Cross schools.
Themes
This is happening to all noughts in Cross schools, all over the country. They’re all being expelled for minor infractions. Mr. Corsa stands, says he’ll be happy to have Callum back “once the dust clears,” and offers Callum his hand. Callum knows the dust will never clear and refuses the handshake. He slams the door as hard as he can on the way out. When Mr. Corsa comes out of the office and tells Callum to come back, Callum smiles—he doesn’t have to do what Mr. Corsa says anymore. He feels gutted, but he’s never coming back.
Mr. Corsa says what he needs to say in order to make it seem like he wasn’t outright rude to Callum. But Callum senses that he’s going to spend the rest of his life trying to “settle the dust” that started to fly when Dad and Jude got involved with the mall bombing. Though Callum resents this and is angry and upset, he feels like he finally has some agency: he can choose to leave Heathcroft now, where he couldn’t before.
Themes
