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Summary
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
Meggie McGregor wipes her eyes and compliments her boss, Mrs. Hadley, on her sense of humor. Mrs. Hadley says it’s “lucky [they’re] such good friends,” which makes Meggie’s smile waver a bit. But Meggie watches her son, Callum, playing with Mrs. Hadley’s daughter, Sephy. The children are actual good friends, without boundaries—at least not yet. It’s summer and beautiful. And at least for the Hadleys, there’s not a cloud in the sky.
While Mrs. Hadley says that she and Meggie are “such good friends,” the narration suggests there’s a power imbalance—Meggie goes by her given name, while Mrs. Hadley uses an honorific (suggesting she’s more powerful). And Meggie’s wavering smile also indicates that Mrs. Hadley might be misguided in her thinking. Meggie noting that Sephy and Callum are good friends without boundaries is ominous. It suggests that in the future, when they’re not so young, something is going to come between them.
Themes
Mrs. Hadley’s blond secretary, Sarah Pike, approaches and says that Mr. Hadley just arrived. Mrs. Hadley is shocked and says she’s glad. Meggie stays quiet—she’s not getting involved in the Hadleys’ inevitable fight. As Mrs. Hadley wanders inside, Sarah murmurs that Mr. Hadley looks angry. Meggie invites Sarah to have a drink from the pitcher of ginger ale, but Sarah says she doesn’t want to get in trouble and heads back inside. Meggie turns back to the kids. Their worries are so simple right now. Maybe life will be better for them. Meggie’s husband likes to wonder what would happen if something huge happened, like a virus or a revolution wiping out all the Crosses. But Meggie prefers to think smaller—“what if Callum and Sephy…?”
Describing the looming fight between Mr. and Mrs. Hadley as inevitable makes it clear that the Hadley home isn’t a happy one; it’s filled with conflict. When Sarah enters the scene, it becomes clear that both she and Meggie are employees of the Hadley family. Sarah seems very worried about keeping her job, which suggests the Hadleys might not be a great family to work for. Meggie, meanwhile, starts to allude to bigger world issues that will one day affect her and the Hadleys’ children. Wishing the world was different—and better—for them implies the world needs to improve.
Themes
Meggie realizes Kamal Hadley is watching her. He approaches and asks what she was thinking about. Flustered, Meggie stumbles over her words and says she wishes Callum and Sephy could stay this age forever. Mrs. Hadley appears just as Mr. Hadley asks Meggie if she had a nice time last night. Meggie is confused; Mr. Hadley is furious. Did she do something wrong? With Mr. Hadley’s prompting, Meggie says she watched television at home last night. Then, Mr. Hadley gets up and slaps Mrs. Hadley across the face before going inside.
When faced with an imposing figure like Kamal Hadley asking what she did last night, Meggie reaches for the only thing that feels at all appropriate: the truth. Clearly, though, this wasn’t the right answer, if Mr. Hadley then slaps his wife after hearing Meggie’s answer. This speaks to how tense things are in the Hadley household—even their staff have to get involved with family conflict and suffer accordingly, despite trying to stay out of it.
Themes
Meggie tries to inspect Mrs. Hadley’s face, but Mrs. Hadley swats Meggie’s hand away. She hisses that Meggie didn’t help her when she needed it—Meggie realizes she was supposed to be Mrs. Hadley’s alibi for last night. Mrs. Hadley stalks inside.
Meggie had no way of knowing what she was supposed to say, so it’s clear that Mrs. Hadley is being unfair to her. This could spell trouble for Meggie, though, because as Meggie’s employer, Mrs. Hadley holds way more power.
Themes
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Later that night, Meggie patches Jude’s school pants yet again while her husband, Ryan, assures her she doesn’t need to worry about what happened this afternoon. Then, the phone rings. It’s Sarah: Mrs. Hadley is firing Meggie. After a minute, Meggie sighs that Jude’s education is over now. They can’t afford to pay for it anymore, and Mrs. Hadley isn’t going to just let one of her Cross friends employ Meggie now. Meggie says she’s going to see Mrs. Hadley. Fourteen years of employment should buy her some goodwill. Ryan knows this won’t end well. Meggie is back two hours later, and on this night, Lynette disappears.
Several things in this passage point to the McGregors living paycheck to paycheck, such as patching Jude’s school pants so many times and no longer being able to afford school at all now that Meggie lost her job. Meggie goes into her conversation with Mrs. Hadley expecting that her former employer will treat her with compassion—but Ryan’s reaction suggests that this is, perhaps, too much to ask. And ending this passage with Lynette’s disappearance adds an ominous note.
Themes
