Noughts and Crosses

Noughts and Crosses

'Noughts and Crosses" by Malorie Blackman is a novel which follows the lives and experiences of two characters, Callum and Sephy. Throughout the book Blackman deals with a number of issues including relationships, alcohol abuse, power abuse, depression and violence. However, the key issues of the book are racism and prejudice. These issues of racism and prejudice are conveyed through the narrative techniques of characterization, point of view, language, structure and setting.

The author uses language as a tool to show the characters' status in society as black or white. Various language techniques are used to display the classes of society. The words "blanker" (used by blacks to describe whites) and "dagger" (used by whites to describe blacks) are used repeatedly throughout the novel. This use of language reflects the intolerant attitudes towards one another in Blackman's radical world. There is a significant amount of symbolism used in these words. "Blanker" is used to describe a blank, worthless, brainless white person. And "dagger" is used to depict a weapon that is capable of scratching and severing, reducing and disconnecting a person, or even bringing them to an end completely. " I bet it was one of her blanker friends, they're blank by name and blank by nature". Through the difference of educated, formal language used by Crosses and the sometimes tasteless, simple language of the noughts, the reader can see the grades in which noughts and Crosses are separately classed. Through this technique I believe Blackman is trying to show the extent to which racism can affect people. It can lessen, degrade and have heavy social affects on a person proving where they belong and what they will never be.

The language is also used to emphasize the feelings and emotions of Callum and Sephy. The use of descriptive writing is employed by Blackman to give the reader insight into the effects and emotions of racism. "I was talking like my mouth was full of stones - and sharp jagged ones at that." The book is full of descriptive writing and figurative language with use of similes and metaphors to explore the feelings of Callum and Sephy. The way in which Blackman uses these language techniques influences the reader to especially pity the white race and the way they are treated in the book. Blackman has created her own world to resemble our own oppositely and by us pitying the noughts in the novel, the white reader really empathizes to pity blacks in our society.

The setting is essential in highlighting the severity of racism in the world Blackman has created. The reader realizes that racism is apparent in the society in which Callum and Sephy live but it is not until Callum is given the rare opportunity to attend a Cross school that we see the extent of discrimination and intolerance towards noughts which commonly occurs. The merging of noughts and Crosses changes the setting completely, throwing the reader directly into conflict. The racist values and attitudes of Crosses are clearly seen on Callum's first day of school when Crosses are uncontrollably protesting, continually chanting 'No blankers in our school'. This displays that the world Callum and Sephy live in is a drastic reversal of ours. Instead of the white race being dominant in society, power roles are radically reversed so blacks are the elite race. Underlying the issue of racism is the issue of relationships and that in this extreme world Callum and Sephy can never be together in a nought and Cross relationship. I think Blackman is trying to recreate a world using the same system as apartheid did in South Africa during the late 1940's to early 1990's. She is using the book as a way to impact the white population by informing them of the discrimination black people have suffered.

The structure of the novel is significant in presenting the issues of racism from both sides of the story. The story starts with a prologue which sets the scene and introduces conflict. The novel then follows with divided parts, which are further divided into alternating point of views from Sephy and Callum. In the prologue the initial conflicts are established. The issues of relationships and racism are alluded to, "Meggie forced herself to believe that things would be better for the children, otherwise what was the point of it all". Blackman introduces the reader into the prejudiced world she has created. The alternating point of view in the structure then allows the reader to be presented with a number of issues coming from both sides of the completely different