Noughts and Crosses

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vmbo t, havo
• Leerjaar 4

The story is about two groups: the Noughts and the Crosses

Read along with the next two excerpts from the book. 

What do they tell you about these two groups?

1

At the far end of the road, there was a huge crowd outside my school. And they were shouting and chanting. (...)

‘NO BLANKERS IN OUR SCHOOL. NO BLANKERS IN OUR SCHOOL.’

The slogan was shouted out over and over again. Callum and three other noughts were surrounded by police officers who were trying to push their way through the crowd to get to the school entrance. More police stood in an arm-linked line trying to push the crowd of Crosses back into two orderly groups. 

I ran faster, but the closer I got, the less I could see. I pushed and elbowed my way through the crowd.
‘Callum! CALLUM!’  

‘NO BLANKERS IN OUR SCHOOL . . .’

 

2

‘Hi. I’m Sephy Hadley.’ I thrust my hand under the nose of the nought girl I was sitting next to. She had a dark brown plaster on her forehead which stuck out on her pale white skin like a throbbing thumb. ‘Welcome to Heathcroft.’ 

She looked at my hand like it was about to bite her. Wiping her own hand on her tunic, she then took mine and shook it slowly. ‘I’m Shania,’ she said softly.   (…)

‘How’s your head?’ I asked, pointing at the plaster.

‘It’s OK. It’ll take more than a stone step to dent my head.’

I smiled. ‘That plaster’s a bit noticeable.’

‘They don’t sell pink plasters. Only dark brown ones.’ Shania shrugged.

My eyes widened at that. I’d never really thought about it before, but she was right. I’d never seen any pink plasters. Plasters were the colour of us Crosses, not the noughts.

Crosses

Noughts

Adapted to television series - aired on BBC in March/April 2020

Genre

The book Noughts and Crosses is an alternate reality fiction based in a 22nd-century parallel universe. Their world, technologically at least, is similar to the one we live in today: about the same jobs, same type of government etc. 

But there is one key difference: equality between races is lacking and there aren't many laws or constitutions to protect from discrimination. 

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.

Structure + perspective of the novel

The book is written from two different perspectives – Callum's and Sephy's (Persephone) – and their experiences of their entwined but very different worlds. 

The chapters alternate, with even chapters being Callum's and odd ones Sephy's.

What are themes of this book?

What is your impression of Noughts and Crosses so far?

1. I like it.
2. It's okay.
3. I don't like it.
4. The topic sounds interesting.

Themes

Racism

Terrorism

Justice

Heroes

Forbidden love

Racism & prejudice

In Noughts & Crosses, this society is turned on its head. It's a powerful,

wealthy, black ruling class who are discriminating against the whites. By

making this switch, Blackman makes it easier for white people to imagine

what it's like to experience racism, and for everyone to think about the

unfairness that prejudice creates.

To make the racism in the book completely convincing Malorie Blackman

includes several things in the book that have also happened in the real

world.

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. 

Campaigning for civil rights

There were two main leaders of the campaign for racial equality in the USA in the 1960's:  Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. MLK believed in peaceful protest and gradual change. Malcolm X believed that the injustices in American society were so bad that it was OK to use violence.

These two viewpoints are reflected in the book  in an argument between Meggie and Ryan (Ch 28), Meggie supports  'Alex Luther' while Ryan thinks the 'General' (Liberation Milituia) is more likely to get results.  (also: Sephy vs Callum)

IRA bombing in Manchester

In 1996 the IRA (an armed Catholic group fighting for independence for

Northern Ireland) bombed Manchester city centre. A shopping centre called

the Arndale was seriously damaged in the explosion. It's a similar scenario

to the bombing of the Dundale centre in Chapter 49.

O vs. X 

In the game of noughts and crosses, two sides are permanently set against each other. By calling the book Noughts & Crosses, Blackman is telling us that it's about a conflict.

As you read, you are constantly being reminded that Crosses are the more powerful group in this conflict – Cross always gets a capital 'C' but nought never does. The visual representation – 0 and X - tells us something too. An X is a powerful mark. It can be used to show something is wrong, to mark a vote on a ballot paper, or to represent the cross in Christianity. A nought is

an empty circle that literally means 'nothing', that has no value. The nicknames the two sides have for each other – blanks and daggers – have similar meanings. Using these labels instead of 'black' and 'white' is one of the ways Malorie Blackman is able to tell a story that looks at racism and prejudice in general, without pinning it down to one particular time and place.

EXTRA

gebruik de volgende website voor nog meer info!

https://www.gradesaver.com/noughts-and-crosses/study-guide/summary

of via de directe link 

www.gradesaver.com