Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. The theme of racial injustice is strongly presented throughout the book.

by mariam_anis (student)

Noughts and crosses – Analytical essay In the novel ‘Noughts and Crosses’ by Malorie Blackman. The theme racial injustice is strongly presented throughout the book. In the book there are two main characters: Sephy and Callum. They live in a society where the black people, crosses, are the superior group and the white people, noughts, are second-class citizens. In the book key features such as conflict and point of view present this theme. In the book the two points of view help convey the message of racial injustice. For example, “My education was assumed to be less important than hers.” Here Callum feels left out, unhappy and weak. The words LESS important highlights Callum’s weak position vs. Sephy’s dominant position. The author hints out that there is injustice and inequality. The tone of Callum’s voice is sad, implies he’s being

This is a preview of the whole essay

treated unfairly. This makes me feel sorry for him and angry that he is feeling excluded and treated unfairly. This helps the overall effect of racial injustice because it shows how different both are and how they feel. In the book Malorie Blackman alternates between each point of view. This can show us a clear example of how both feel and they both can be easily compared. An example is an event when Callum is questioned while entering first class in a train. Here Callum’s feelings are that he is treated like a filthy animal. He also states in a sarcastic way, “How dare a nought sit in first class? It’s outrageous!” Here he is imitating how the crosses would feel if he went to first class. This expresses Callum’s feeling that people are disgusted to see him in a dominant image. Malorie Blackman hints the stereotypical minds of crosses through crosses through Callum to show how much Callum is unfairly treated and excluded. After that sentence in the chapter it is stated that Sephy is easily welcomed without any questioning. This shows us the difference, contrast and inequality expressed in Callum’s situation comparing to Sephy’s. This also highlights that noughts are treated differently and constantly suffer everywhere they go. Noughts are looked upon the crosse’s nostrils as if they were poor peasants. For example in one chapter, Dianne is a stero-typical cross who states about the noughts, “They smell funny and eat peculiar foods” also Lola another cross states, “Blank white faces, blank minds, blank, blank, blank. That’s why they serve us and not the other way around.” There the tone of Lola and Dianne is how much they feel powerful and dominant and how they pity on the noughts. There Lola and Dianne’s point of view highlight that crosses feel more dominant and have no respect for noughts. “BLANK minds” here the word blank has two meanings: 1. A racist word for white show the colour. 2. Emptiness which is used here to emphasis that the noughts have empty minds, implying that they are stupid. “That’s why THEY SERVE US” this is an example showing the weak roles and jobs of noughts compared to crosses that have big jobs and that are rich. The point of view is very effective towards bringing out the theme Racial Injustice. Another key feature is conflict. “You noughts, us crosses” Conflict helps to structure the plot and highlight how people how people disagree and differ from each other. The sentence emphasizes the conflict because it highlights the distance between both groups. The inclusive and exclusive pronouns you and us show that the two sides are apart and excluded. Another example of conflict is the event where Callum has arrived to school and there are noughts shouting, “NO BLANKERS IN OUR SCHOOL!” This highlights the theme racial injustice because Callum is unwanted and is being excluded and called a blanker. Malorie Blackman puts these examples of conflict to help us get a deeper understanding of how black people were treated before with no justice. The conflict here is based on intense racial injustice because the crosses are angry and want to throw the noughts out of the school. In the book Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman the writer is very effective in achieving her intention and giving us a detailed understanding of racial injustice through effective key features like conflict and point of view. Overall the book clearly gives out the message racial injustice.