Naughts and Crosses“Racial superiority is a mere pigment of the imagination.”

Title and Prologue

• What might “Naughts and Crosses” mean? What does the title suggest? What do we call noughts and crosses today?• Make notes on characters and their relationships to one another. Is

there anything that suggests that relationships might deteriorate?• Why might it be rare for Jasmine Hadley to giggle? (1)• Why does Meggie McGregor call Jasmine Hadley “Mrs. Hadley” while

Jasmine calls her “Meggie”?• Why is Meggie worried that Sephy and Callum’s friendship might not

last: “Not barriers. No boundaries. Not yet anyway” (1).

Title and prologue continued…

• Why must Meggie “keep her mouth well and truly shut” (1-2)• Why does she want a virus to wipe out every single Cross? (2)?• When Kamal Hadley slaps Jasmine (4), what does that suggest about

him?• Why is Meggie patching Jude’s school trousers?• Why is she so keen on his education?• Who are the Crosses? Who are then naughts?

How did you come up with the idea of the Noughts and Crosses?… I wanted to write a story about the legacy of slavery. About how attitudes way back when, still influence all our lives and the way we think and live today. I really believe the subject of slavery is terribly important – especially in this day and age. I think it gives a context to modern day Western World thinking and attitudes regarding other races and cultures. But the comments and feedback I received planted the seed of the idea for Noughts and Crosses in my mind. It occurred to me that the story I had in mind would be more challenging to write and hopefully read if I played with people’s perceptions of the society presented in the story. I wanted to turn society as we know it on its head in my story, with new names for the major divisions in society, i.e. Noughts (the underclass) and Crosses (the majority, ruling society). I wanted to see this new world through the eyes of the main two characters, Callum (a nought) and Sephy (a Cross). Race and racism are emotive issues that most people are loathe to discuss but I think they should be discussed, no matter how painful. I wanted the society in my book to be viewed from two different points of view (Callum and Sephy’s) to show how our perspectives colour our thinking. The adage, ‘you can’t really know someone until you have walked in their shoes’, is like all clichés mostly true. That I think was the idea I had in mind when I sat down to write Noughts and Crosses. I think it was Nietzsche who said, ‘There is no truth, only perspectives. And the more perspectives you have, the closer to the truth you get.’

How did you come up with the title?

• Noughts and Crosses is a game that no one really plays much past childhood because once you’ve grasped its objective and tactics, it invariably ends in a draw – a no-win situation. (In the US, I believe the game is called Tic Tac Toe.) At the risk of sounding arty-farty literati, I think that pretty much sums up racism. Ultimately no one wins. And as was said by Abraham Joshua Heschel, ‘Racism is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.’ I guess that why I love the graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore so much. Maybe he’s right. Maybe the only way we’ll get peace on our planet is if we all face a greater threat from outside Earth.

Pangea

Pangea is the idea of a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It formed approximately 300 million years ago and then began to break apart after about 100 million years.

How did this power dynamic come to be…Without the barriers to exchange of domesticable animals, among other factors, the African people gained a technological and organizational advantage over the Europeans rather than the other way around, and made Europeans their slaves. At the time of the story, slavery has been abolished, but Jim-Crow type segregation operates to keep the Crosses (the Africans) in control of the naughts (Europeans). Also, the close proximity of the various nations of the world in a single supercontinent (Pangea) and the lack of natural defences have forced the nations of the world to learn to cooperate. An organization called the Pangaean Economic Community exists, and seems to be similar to the United Nations in scope but similar to the European Union in powers, and it is playing a role in forcing change.~ The Big Read

Chapters 1-15

• What are the differences between Callum and Sephy’s homes?• What do we learn about Jude?• Where is Callum going to be going to school?• What are daggers and blankers?• What do you think happened to Mrs. Hadley 3 years ago? (32)• What is the Pangaean Economic Community and who are the

Liberation Militia?• What arrangement do you think Mr. Hadley is making? DO we trust

him?

• What’s going on with Lynette?• What happened when Sephy drove up to school on Callum’s first day?

What did she yell? • Why is it harder for Sephy to understand Callum’s feelings when she

uses the word ‘blanker’ to condemn her fellow students?• What more do we learn about Kamal Hadley?• What happened when Sephy tried to sit with Callum at lunch?• What happened to Sephy at the end of this section?

Ruby Bridges

• Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to attend an all-white public elementary school in the American South.

Biography.com

Ruby Bridges continued:

Born on September 8, 1954, in Tylertown, Mississippi, Ruby Bridges was 6 when she became the first African-American child to integrate a white Southern elementary school, having to be escorted to class by her mother and U.S. marshals due to violent mobs. Bridges' bravery paved the way for continued Civil Rights action and she's shared her story with future generations in educational forums.

Ruby Bridges continued:

• In 1960, Ruby Bridges' parents were informed by officials from the NAACP that she was one of only six African-American students to pass the test. Ruby would be the only African-American student to attend the William Frantz School, near her home, and the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South.

Ruby Bridges Continued

• On the morning of November 14, 1960, federal marshals drove Ruby and her mother five blocks to her new school. While in the car, one of the men explained that when they arrived at the school, two marshals would walk in front of Ruby and two would be behind her.

Ruby Bridges continued• The image of this small black girl being escorted to school by four large white

men inspired Norman Rockwell to create the painting "The Problem We All Must Live With," which graced the cover of Look magazine in 1964.

Ruby Bridges continued

• When Ruby and the federal marshals arrived at the school, large crowds of people were gathered in front yelling and throwing objects. There were barricades set up, and policemen were everywhere. Ruby, in her innocence, first believed it was like a Mardi Gras celebration. When she entered the school under the protection of the federal marshals, she was immediately escorted to the principal's office and spent the entire day there. The chaos outside, and the fact that nearly all the white parents at the school had kept their children home, meant classes weren't going to be held.

Picketing outside of the school…

Ostracized at School

• On her second day, the circumstances were much the same as the first, and for a while it looked like Ruby Bridges wouldn't be able to attend class. Only one teacher, Barbara Henry, agreed to teach Ruby. She was from Boston and a new teacher to the school. "Mrs. Henry," as Ruby would call her even as an adult, greeted her with open arms. Ruby was the only student in Henry's class, because parents pulled or threatened to pull their children from Ruby's class and send them to other schools. For a full year, Henry and Ruby sat side by side at two desks, working on Ruby's lessons. Henry was very loving and supportive of Ruby, helping her not only with her studies but also with the difficult experience of being ostracized

Ostracized…

• Ruby Bridges' first few weeks at Frantz School were not easy ones. Several times she was confronted with blatant racism in full view of her federal escorts. On her second day of school, a woman threatened to poison her. After this, the federal marshals allowed her to only eat food from home. On another day, she was "greeted" by a woman displaying a black doll in a wooden coffin. Ruby's mother kept encouraging her to be strong and pray while entering the school, which Ruby discovered reduced the vehemence of the insults yelled at her and gave her courage.

Ostracized…

• She spent her entire day, every day, in Mrs. Henry's classroom, not allowed to go to the cafeteria or out to recess to be with other students in the school. When she had to go to the restroom, the federal marshals walked her down the hall. Several years later, federal marshal Charles Burks, one of her escorts, commented with some pride that Ruby showed a lot of courage. She never cried or whimpered, Burks said, "She just marched along like a little soldier."

The Turning and The Picnic Chapters 16-21• Summarize the events of these chapters.• Why did Blackman include Callum’s experience on the train in her

novel? What event in Civil Rights does this remind you of? Explain.• What do you make of Callum’s comment: “I didn’t want to blame her

for the way police treated me and every other naught I knew. I didn’t want to hold her responsible for the way security guards and store detectives followed me around every time I entered a department store… all eyes were upon me. After all, it was one of the well-known Cross-initiated facts that we naughts didn’t pay for anything when there was a chance of stealing it instead” (Blackman 94).

The Breakdown Chapters 25-31

• What comment is Blackman making about how naughts are perceived in the media (98)? How does this relate to our society today?• Explain the fight at the McGregor household (Chapter 26). What more

do we learn about Lynette? Who is Jed?• Explain Sephy’s birthday plan. How does it involve Callum?• What makes Callum upset in class?• What news do we discover about Mr and Mrs Hadley?

The Breakdown Chapters 32-52

• Lynny asks: “Which means more – Being someone or making a difference?” (127). What do you think?• Why do you think Lynny misses being insane (128)?• Do you agree with Lynny when she says, “… when you’re floating up

and up in your bubble, that bubbles have a habit of bursting. The higher you climb, the farther you have to fall” (129).• What new news to we learn about Mrs Hadley? (131).• What happened to Lynny at the end of chapter 36. What happened to

Mrs. Hadley at the end of 37? Why do you think they did this?

• How does Callum view Lynny’s death (145)?• Who was Ryan with at Lynny’s funeral (148)? Where have we seen

him before? How was Sephy received at the funeral?

The Split Chapters 43-64• What group have Jude and Mr. McGregor aligned themselves with?

Why do you think they decided to join the group?• Summarize the events surrounding the Dundale Shopping Center.

What happened when Mrs. McGregor found out?• What new habit has Sephy taken up and why? (178).• Explain why Mrs. McGregor may not want her sons fingerprints in the

government’s system. Why do you think this new rule is now in place for the naughts?• Explain how and why the McGregor’s were arrested. Who is being

held?

• What has Ryan McGregor been charged with and what plans are in order to release him? Who fronted the money to make this happen?

The Trial

• Why do you think Sephy feels the need to escape? What’s her escape plan?• Why did Callum need to take the stand? How are the prosecutors

trying to use him? How did Kelani get him out of this situation?• What is the verdict on Ryan McGregor

The Way it is…

• Mrs. Hadley asks Sephy to put on her expensive blue dress. Why does she do this?• What is Ryan McGregor’s sentence? What happens to prevent this?• Why do you think Callum found his way to Sephy’s at night? How do

you interpret their feelings about each other? Explain the connection to Romeo and Juliet.• Mr. McGregor dies. How did he pass? Explain the connection made in

class to To Kill a Mockingbird.• Sephy’s escape plan involved Callum. Why did it not work out?

The Hostage

• Explain some of the changes in Sephy (almost 18) and Callum (almost 20) over the past few years• How is it that Callum and Sephy came to meet up again after 2 and a

half years?• How does kidnapping Sephy benefit the Liberation Militia?• Make some notes on the relationship between Jude and Callum. Is it

familial? Explain.

The Hostage continued

• Sephy and Callum’s relationship has changed. Identify some of those changes.• What does the Liberation Militia want Sephy to do?• Where have we seen Andrew Dorn before? What is his connection to

Sephy? Callum?• Sephy is “miserably unhappy” after being with Callum? Why might

this be?• How does Sephy escape?

The Confession

• We discover that Sephy is pregnant with Callum’s baby. What does her father want her to do with the baby and why? What is Sephy’s decision?• Summarize Callum and Sephy’s last meeting.

Decisions

• Kamal visits Callum in prison. What is the deal that Kamal presents to Callum? • Kamal then visits Sephy - What deal does her offer her?

Losing my Religion

• Summarize Callum’s last hour. What are his thoughts focused on? Who does he hear as he is hanged?• What are Sephy’s final wishes for Callum?• What surprise do we get at the end of the novel?