Chapter 1 Summary
In Chapter 1 of Noughts and Crosses we are introduced to the main characters of this novel and it jumps straight into the conflict of the book, the differences between Noughts and Crosses ( White and Black community). It conveys the struggle of two best friends living in a society where they cannot interact with each other because of their race as one of them consider themselves superior than the other. It represents the conflict idea of man vs society and man vs self.
We see violence, riots and racist comments that we learn the meaning of later in the book and the key scenes includes these themes. A scene of where violence is presented is the riot/ protest of having Noughts (also called “Blankers”) introduced into HeathCroft High School. The Crosses start to throw objects towards them in order for them to leave the school forcefully. In the process a girl gets injured by getting hit on the head which is the first time we see a glimpse of violence in the book. We also witness Sephy threatened by girls in an older grade trying to “teach her a lesson” for her betrayal against the school’s Cross community by sitting with the Noughts. They push her around and tell her the consequences would be worse if she was to pull an act like that again. Sephy tells the older girls that she’s not scared and refuses to be intimated by them. This then leads to Sephy getting beaten up by them.
My personal point of the book so far that it’s an interesting twist to society as we mostly see a more White dominated community usually discriminating against the Black community and this book shows us a different perspective of the idea of a particular race being more superior. I think it’s a great way of illustrating the idea of discrimination through showing the struggles of two friends for the complete opposite backgrounds and how this could effect people in reality by negatively influencing people’s relationship.
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