Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

I love “Noughts and Crosses” because I love the forbidden romance and the great friendship between the two main characters. What I really loved about it was that it is one of those rare books that keep you drawn in right from the start and it doesn’t fail to meet expectations. Malorie Blackman does a really good job at making you feel the emotions that Callum and Sephy feel; when they feel sad, you’re sad and when they feel happy you’re happy and it’s because she writes about the characters and the story with so much depth and emotion that you can’t help but be drawn in to it.

In “Noughts and Crosses” white people are the under-dogs, which is unlike today’s society because as we all know black people are the ones who have been discriminated against in the past, and still are today. Also the white people cannot mix with the blacks whatsoever, which is also different to today because in more recent times we have racial acceptance and most countries are multi-cultural.

These issues are communicated through the point of view of the character and the language Malorie Blackman uses. Black people use the word “blanker” to describe the whites and it is saying that the whites are useless and worthless; blank by name, blank by nature. The word “dagger”, used by the white people to describe the blacks, is as equally offensive and is saying that the black people are harsh and evil and they tear white people and their lives apart. These words are very similar to racist vocabulary used today and by using these words, it shows a likeness between the book’s world and our world and gives us a connection to the characters and their problems.

“I used to comfort myself with the belief that it was only certain individuals and their peculiar notions that spoilt things for the rest of us. But how many individuals does it take before it's not the individuals who are prejudiced but society itself?” – Callum McGregor. I love this quote because it really made me think about how