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Examine the significance of the relationship between Sephy and Callumin Malorie Blackman’s novel ‘Noughts and Crosses’.
A skilful, poignant demonstration of racism is portrayed during Malorie Blackman’s novel ‘Noughts and Crosses’. The two protagonists Sephy and Callum fight to be together as their cultures force them apart: Callum being an inferior, white nought and Sephya dominant, black Cross.
Throughout the novel there is an obvious change in Callum’s character as he faces the frequent obstacles which society throws at him. At the start of the novel Callum sees the divide between the two races, yet,he has a naïve view on the situation. He wants to escape the world rather than change it but ‘this place is like the world and the whole world is like this place.’ Callum can see the world of prejudice and hate surrounding him and he doesn’t feel like he belongs there. He believes in a world where noughts and Crosses can live in harmony and despite the obvious divide, he thinks there can be change. However, Callum’s character undergoes a massive transformation ashe becomes gradually more frustrated and angry as a result of the prejudice he is surrounded by as he wants‘to smash every dagger that crosses [his] path.’
Poignantly, Callum no longer wishes for peace between the two races and he believes that the world would be better if there were only noughts and no Crosses. He feels a lot of pent up rage from constantly being undermined and being unable to express his feelings simply because he’s white. Callum has reached his limit of how much he’s willing to take and this affects how he sees Sephy and all the other Crosses.
Sephy’s a very selfish, naïve young child at the start of the novel. She sees the divide through innocent eyes and she doesn’t understand why the two races don’t mix. She’s completely dependant on Callum as she’s very isolated and lonely, believing ‘[Callum] needed [their] relationship just as much as [she] did.’ As Sephy has no family member she can talk with, she seriously needs Callum as her support. This becomes more apparent as the novel progresses and Callum no-longer wishes to be around Sephy. Sephy is then willing to risk their relationship just so she can have someone to talk to, feeling unhappy and unsettled by the fact she needs Callum, more than he needs her.
We see Sephy’s character dramatically change from the beginning to the end of the novel. Her dependence on Callum fades and a far stronger, more confident woman is seen. She creates a group in her college of young people ‘[who] were Crosses fighting for a change in the system.’ Sephy is no longer fighting for noughts because Callum is one; she’s fighting for the rights of every nought as she believes it is right. Her experiences with Callum have taught her not to make rash decisions, but instead, to think things through and stay calm.
Blackman skilfully displays the strain racism and prejudice put on relationships throughout ‘Noughts and Crosses’. The relationship at the beginning of the novel is very different to the one we see at the end:we see no signs of racism affecting the early friendship between Callum and Sephy:
‘They were good friends playing together. Real good
friends. No barriers. No boundaries. Not yet anyway.’
There is nothing stopping them from being together, no prejudice and no complications. Callum and Sephy don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be together; they are young and haven’t been introduced to the unfair world that they live in. However, Blackman cleverly develops their relationship so we can see how racism changes the way the characters think and act. When Sephy decides to make a stand in the canteen,we see how difficult it is to fight against prejudice:
‘I lined up in the food queue. I wasn’t going to do
anything out of the ordinary, so why was my heart
bumping in such a strange way.’
The atmosphere Sephy has grown up with has influenced her in ways she has only just realised. She knows what she is doing is something out of the ordinary but isn’t sure why. Sephy doesn’t yet fully know how severe racism is and this puts a strain on her and Callum’s relationship.
Callum and Sephy fight to be together but it seems like everything they do orsay throws them apart. When Callum’s temper escalates, due to his father’s possible hanging,he goes to her house wanting to hurt her as he was ‘so full of rage it was a giddy feeling and [he] revelled in it.’ The two characters’ lifestyle has thrown so many obstacles in their path it’s finally starting to affect the way they see each other. Callum’s feelings towards the Crosses have become far more hostile, and Sephy has become a lot more wary of him as he is very unpredictable. She doesn’t feel comfortable around Callum as when he is angry, she feels that he is dangerous.
Through all the hardships, Callum and Sephy end up together and in love. Despite the hate, we still see the emotional bond that links these two incredibly different characters together. Malorie Blackman expertly twists the story in front of our eyes as all of a sudden Callum is going to be hung for being ‘a Nought who dared to be in love with a Cross.’ They both know what they have is something different and frowned upon, but despite all of the prejudice, they still find a way to fall in love with each other. They both stay together and stand up for what they believe in even though this ends with Callum’s execution.
As Blackman is black she has been brought up to live with racism all her life, she wrote ‘Noughts and Crosses’ to show white people what it’s like to be on the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination believing, it’s about ‘putting yourself in another person’s place, walking in their shoes for a while to experience their lives.’ Expertly, she uses Callum and Sephy’s alternating narratives to emphasise the effect racism has on both races as Blackman cleverly uses capital letters and punctuation, to accentuate how the Crosses are more dominant than the noughts.
Malorie emotively illustrates how Sephy and Callum, a black dominant girl and a white inferior boy manage to conquer love despite their huge cultural differences. Through the clever writing of her novel, Blackman skilfully conveys what it’s like to be affected by the prejudice which is still present today.