Noughts and Crosses.

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• mavo, havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Noughts & Crosses

the basics

H4 2024-2025

who against whom?

There are two races in the book: the Crosses (darker-skinned people) the race with the individuals owning most of the wealth, good jobs, different and better schools etc. 

The second race, the noughts (lighter-skinned people) are at the poorer end of society, usually doing manual labour or being servants to Crosses, with poor schools – if any at all.

Noughts and Crosses

• About Sephy and Callum
  
• Black = Crosses, White = Noughts
• Themes: Racism, terrorism, forbidden love.
  

Divided society

From the 1940s to the 1990s, South Africa was ruled by a system

called apartheid. Blacks and whites lived separate lives. The whites

were the ruling class and generally lived in comfort while black

people lived in poverty.

In Northern Ireland for most of the twentieth century, Protestants

were the ruling class and Catholics were generally worse off, with

less political power and a lower standard of living.

Slavery

In the USA, white landowners used black slaves to work their farms until the 1860s. Even after slavery was abolished black people often

continued to work on the farms in the southern states, in bad conditions, for poor wages, as servants or manual labourers.

Even now, black communities in the USA are often worse off than white communities. The story of Noughts & Crosses is set at a time when people can still remember noughts being slaves. 

What are the names of the main characters in the book?

Who has the upper hand in society?

1. Noughts
2. Crosses

Match the name to the desctription:
....has a lover and drinks a lot of wine

1. Kamal Hadley
2. Mrs. Hadley
3. Callum
4. Lynette

Match the character and its description.

Meggie McGregor

Jude

Mr. Jason

Callum

Mrs. Hadley

Sephy

"Minnie"

Ryan's wife, a nought

Insults the noughts

The older brother

A Cross aged 13-17

An older sister, a Cross.

Kamal's wife, a Cross.

A nought, one of the protagonists.

Match the name to the description:
....has an important job in the government.

1. Sarah Pike
2. Lynette
3. Kamal Hadley
4. Jude

Match the name to the description:
....Worked as a secretary.

1. Callie Rose
2. Lynette
3. Sephy
4. Sarah Pike

Match the name to the description:
Was killed by a bus.

1. Mrs Hadley
2. Jack
3. Lynette
4. Callum

Match the name to the sentence:
Found a note from his sister in his bed.

1. Sephy
2. Jack
3. Callum
4. Callum's dad

Match the name to the description:
preferred to die than stay in prison.

1. Jack
2. Callum
3. Callum's dad
4. Kamal Hadley

Match the name to the sentence:
Was a kind Cross guard in the prison.

1. Mr. Hadley
2. Callum's dad
3. Jack
4. Jude

Essay task

What is the role of violence in the novel?

Write a short analysis, using a clear example from the book. 

Who is Malorie Blackman?

• Born in 1962 in Clapham, London 
• Renowned children's books writer 
• Author of more than 60 books
• First book published in 1990
• She uses science fiction to address ethnicity and related social issues 
• In 2001 she started working on her series 'Noughts & Crosses'

Creative writing task

Write a short letter to the author of the novel. 

Ask at least two questions about choices she made while writing the story. 

Writing a formal letter

Start with Dear Ms Blackman,
End with Yours sincerely, skip a line and write your full name
Use formal language:

• no contracted forms
• use polite language
• no exclamation marks, emoticons, abbreviations, etc. "