Noughts and Crosses
“Noughts and Crosses” is a Novel written by Malorie Blackman. The author reminded me of a world similar to the situation of the white and coloured people of America in the 20th century, using examples of racism, segregation and the Noughts fight to get equal rights. The novel follows the story of Callum and Sephy inbetween a bigger story of Noughts vs Crosses which happens in the book. Callum is a Nought living in a country where they are oppressed and discriminated against. Sephy is the daughter of one of the most influential Crosses, a group who have oppressed the Noughts for centuries. Callum eventually gets Sephy pregnant and Callum dies because of this.
The story shows examples of racism which draw a similarity to the racism which was seen in the USA. There is obvious racism in the story with the classes of Noughts and Crosses being clearly separated through their skin colour and race. The Crosses also believe that they are superior to the Noughts. They also use racial slurs to refer to the Noughts. They use the word “blanker”, which means that they are blank and refers to there skin colour which is white or to the Crosses is without colour and blank. The name Nought is also degrading because it means nothing or zero. An example of the use of the word “blanker”, is when Sephy was trying to help Callum who was getting attacked and said, “ Stop it! You’re all behaving like animals!… Worse than animals- like blankers”. This shows that the general opinion of Noughts is that they are worse than Crosses and are more savage than animals which is racist. The racial slurs that the Crosses use to call Noughts is similar to ones used to call the African Americans in the USA. The idea that Noughts are different to Crosses also is similar to the idea that Americans in the past and present are that African Americans are somehow inferior to white people. I have have not seen blatant rasism in person, but I have seen examples of it online. I think i’m lucky that I personally have not been effected by rasism directly but I feel sorry and can now somewhat feel what how feel because of this book.
The story shows similarities to the segregation that was active in the US. There are examples in the story showing signs that the Noughts were segregated and still trying to get unsegregated. The Noughts and Crosses had different schools and lived in different neighborhoods. The Noughts and Crosses had been segregated for years, and a quote from the book shows this,” It seemed to me that we had been practicing segregation for centuries now and that hadn’t worked either”. The Crosses had only just let the best of the best Noughts into their school and the Noughts that were allowed into the schools were met by an angry mob. This angry reception to Noughts entering Cross schools was similar to the reception that the black students of the US entering white schools received. The situation in the book is similar to the one that happened to the African American students of Little Rock High School in Arkansas. They were met by an angry mob and had to be escorted by police. Later finding that that wasn’t enough they were escorted into the school by a paratroop division. The segregation in Noughts and Crosses draws similarities to the segregation that was found in the US during the 20th century. Its now hard to imagine being seperated by skin colour, especially because we live in New Zealand, which is a multicultural place. The book helps imagine what segregation in the US could have looked like.
Noughts and Crosses show a different way in which Noughts are trying to end racism between Noughts and Crosses compared to what happened in the US. In Noughts and Crosses there is a group called the liberation militia which is the main way that Noughts are trying to get rights. They use acts of violence and crime to get their way unlike what we saw in real life with the peaceful protest such as sit-ins that were led by people such as Martin Luther King Jr. Their goal was the same and that was to get equality between their respective groups. But the means they did to get that goal was completely opposite. The liberation militia is suspected to have been responsible for allowing the Nought students to enter the Cross school, as shown through this quote, “Isn’t it true, Mr Hadley, that your government’s decision to allow selected Noughts into our schools was as a direct result of pressure from the liberation militia?” This shows that the liberation militia’s goal is to make Noughts and Crosses equal. This is similar to the civil rights movement of the US. Their goal was to eventually get black and whites to be equal but their means of doing so are opposite. The Liberation Militia was responsible for the Dundale mall bombing in the story which is responsible for killing at least 7 people, “A warning was received by a Nought group calling itself the liberation militia only five minutes before the bomb actually exploded.” This shows that the militia were capable and were not afraid of such acts of violence to get what they wanted whereas its real life counterpart only used passive resistance to get what they wanted.
In conclusion the book Noughts and Crosses draws similarities to the real life of people in the US during the 20th century. This helps me imagine what life could of been like if were living in a place that was racist, or sympithize with those who have to face racism.
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