Two novels that I have studied that featured interesting but contrasting relationships are ‘Noughts and Crosses’ by Malorie Blackman and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. One interesting relationship that exists in the novel ‘Noughts and Crosses’ is that between Sephy Hadley and her father Kamal Hadley. I found this father-daughter relationship interesting because despite being financially well-off, emotionally, they are quite poor as a family. Her father is often away from home because of his work. In the beginning of the novel it is suggested that Sephy is closer to her father than her mother but that his frequent absences have impacted negatively on their relationship:
 
‘At least Dad was still fun- when he was around, which wasn’t very often’. Sephy is also very disinterested in her father’s political career: ‘Why on earth would I care about Dad becoming prime minister? I saw little enough of him as it was. If he became Prime Minister I’d have to watch the telly just to remember what he looked like’. We the reader get the feeling that Sephy is treated as an object as opposed to a real person.
 
This relationship starkly contrasts with that between Atticus Finch and his daughter Scout. They have a loving and close relationship. Atticus informs both Scout and Jem that they might hear some ‘ugly talk’ associated with the upcoming trial of Tom Robinson. He is open and honest and explains to Scout his reasons for taking Tom Robinson’s case: ‘This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience- Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man’.
 
Conversely, Kamal Hadley is secretive and fails to tell Sephy about the existence of her half-brother. She tells Callum: ‘You’ll never guess what I found out from eavesdropping on Mother and Dad’. We learn that Kamal Hadley is a hypocrite and a racist and is unhappy that his daughter does not assimilate these same racist values. Unlike Atticus, he does not parent his children but rather tries to bully and dominate them. We see this when Sephy is caught listening to her father and an acquaintance: ‘Dad’s eyes blazed with rage as he scowled at me. He looked like he wanted to hit me’.
 
 
Shockingly, he does not support his young daughter when he learns that she is pregnant. Instead he bullies her and tries to coerce (force) her into having an abortion against her will. He cruelly tells her that it is within his power to ensure that Callum doesn’t hang but only receive a prison sentence. He tries to manipulate her by telling her: ‘And where there’s life….there’s a price….and all you have to do is agree to have an abortion’.
 
Whilst Atticus can be strict with Scout and Jem, he is never domineering or controlling and we learn that both Scout and Jem have great respect for their father. Atticus has a close and loving relationship with Scout and he is constantly advising her and mentoring her. He tells her that she should avoid getting into fights in the schoolyard and ‘try fighting with your head for a change….. It’s a good one’. He does not belittle Scout and is always encouraging her. He worries about her catching ‘Maycomb’s usual disease’ (racism). He is interested in his daughter and wants her to grow up to be a discerning empathetic (caring) person. He allows her to express herself by wearing trousers and playing with boys but does not allow her to be cruel to Boo Radley. He tells her ‘You never really understand a person until you……climb into his shoes and walk around in it’.
 
This is differs from Sephy Hadley’s relationship with her father. Her father is only interested in his political career. He is a completely self-absorbed character. Sephy informs us about a clock in her bedroom- ‘a fourteenth birthday present from a few months ago from my father. A present he’d probably never even seen’. This is a very distant father-daughter relationship. Kamal Hadley does not advise or mentor his daughter as he has no real interest in her. When Sephy tells her father that she is pregnant with Callum’s baby because they made love together, he is horrified. We are told that he assaults his daughter: ‘Dad slapped me so hard he knocked me off my feet’. He disowns his daughter: ‘You are no longer my daughter’ and he derogatorily labels her ‘a blanker’s slut’. Kamal Hadley is a racist who happily supports the inequality and injustice of the status quo. He is angry that his daughter so overtly defies it because of the damage it will do to his reputation.
 
The opposite occurs in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ where the morally discerning Atticus challenges his daughter not to accept the corrupt status quo. We see the positive impact of Atticus on Scout as she realises that ‘Atticus was right. One time he said that you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them’. Kamal Hadley’s impact on Sephy is quite the opposite. His legacy on Sephy’s life is quite harmful and traumatic as he is responsible for Callum’s death, the death of the person she loved most in the world and Sephy is forced to cut herself off from the negative harmful impact that not just her father but indeed her entire family have on her. They emotionally drain the goodness out of her life.

The relationship between Callum and Sephy in ‘Noughts and Crosses’ is an interesting one in that it develops and evolves over the course of the novel. Initially, when we are introduced to both characters, we are made aware of the close friendship that exists between the two: ‘Callum was the one person in the world I could tell anything and everything to without having to think twice about it’. However, this friendship is a secretive one because of the divisive nature of societal attitudes: ‘We couldn’t tell anyone about it, that’s all. We had our own world, our own secret place on the beach where no one went and where no one would even finds us, not if they did know where to look. It was a small space, tiny really, but it was ours’.
 
Due to the parochialism and divisiveness of this society, Sephy and Callum must keep their friendship a secret as it would be frowned upon by both noughts and crosses. Sephy descried this: ‘If only Callum and I didn’t have to sneak and creep around’. Callum who is an extremely solicitous character tells Sephy in the exchange below:
 
‘I don’t want you to lose any of your friends because of me. I know how much they mean to you.
You’re my friend too.
Not when we’re both at school, I’m not.’
 
We see the disparity between the two in terms of their ages in the beginning of the novel when Callum asks Sephy to kiss him. Sephy is a couple of years younger and is more naïve and is somewhat repulsed by the request: ‘Yeuk! I mean Yeuk!! I wrinkled up my nose’ and yet she agrees to go along with it, teasingly remarking: ‘Ok! Ok! I frowned, adding ‘The things I do for you!’
It is clear that they are both very protective of each other especially Callum of Sephy. This is clearly apparent when Jude taunts Callum about his friendship with Sephy: ‘Don’t you call my best friend that…. Say that again I’ll knock you flat’.
 
We see this reciprocated when Callum begins in Heathcroft, when Sephy must choose between Callum, her nought friend or her cross friends. In a show of solidarity to Callum, Sephy makes the difficult decision to sit beside Callum, knowing that there will be repercussions. As a result of this decision she is socially ostracised by both noughts and crosses. This was an extremely difficult thing for Sephy to do. Sephy describes how she ‘was going to do anything out of the ordinary, so why was my heart bumping in such a strange way’. She describes how all those at Callum’s table ‘all looked so shocked, it wasn’t even funny’. The headmistress Mrs Bawden happens upon the scene and berates Sephy for not sitting with ‘her own kind’. The tension is clearly palpable as Blackman evokes the tension through her adroit use of violent verbs and similes:
 
‘Mrs Bawden grabbed me by arm and pulled me out of my chair. I was still holding on to my tray, and everything on it went flying…………… Mrs Bawden yanked me away from the table and dragged me across the food hall. I tried to twist away from her, but she had a grip like a python on steroids’.
 
Like all normal relationships, Callum and Sephy fight and have arguments. Both characters can be querulous at times towards each other especially when one of them have been hurt. Sephy is extremely hurt over the canteen incident and accuses Callum of being ‘ashamed’ of being seen with her.
Callum rebukes Sephy for drinking alcohol, accusing her of being a drunk: ‘No you’re worse. You’re a drunk. A lush. An alcy’. They are constantly challenging each other through the novel.
 
Their relationship evolves into a more mature, intimate relationship when the Liberation Militia abduct Sephy. Tensions are running high and Callum and Sephy end up sleeping with each other. However, because of the parochialism and prejudice of society, the crosses interpret this development in Sephy and Callum’s relationship as rape. The cross community cannot understand how Sephy would willingly sleep with a nought. Sephy repeatedly states that she loves Callum. She defiantly refuses to be coerced into having an abortion. Ultimately, Callum and Sephy are denied the opportunity to be together because of the racial prejudice and bigotries that exist in their society. Their relationship is ultimately doomed because of the colour of their skin. Callum pays for his relationship with his life. Sephy remains loyal to Callum declaring over and over that she loves him. She tells Callum that their child will love him too. She names their baby daughter Callie Rose McGregor in memory of her father.

Callum McGregor
Initially…………….
Narrator- made privy to the struggles and tensions of home life
Weight of responsibility
Father lives vicariously through his son
Assiduous and conscientious
Manages to pass the entrance exam into Heathcroft
Compliant
Equable – even-tempered
Solicitous
Loyal
Protective
 
But as the novel develops…………
Embittered by life
Cynical
Vengeful
Ruthless
Cold-hearted
 
 
Callum McGregor is one of the novel’s protagonists. He is a nought character and as a result suffers a lot of discrimination as a result of the colour of his skin. As one of the novel’s narrators, we are made privy to the struggles and tensions of home life. He is a character who develops and evolves over the course of the novel. Initially when we meet Callum, he comes across as a very even-tempered, pleasant young man. He is an assiduous student who works very hard to gain entry to Heathcroft by passing exams that were designed for him to fail in the first place. He is an optimistic young boy who is very enthusiastic about going to Heathcroft because he is aware of the opportunities that education afford him:
 
‘I’ve got into Heathcroft now and nothing, not even dynamite, is going to get me out again’.Callum firmly believed that education was the way to cross the social divide:“Once I had a proper education behind me, no-one could turn around and say “you’re not smart enough or good enough”. No- one. I was on my way UP! And with a proper education behind me, nothing could stand between Sephy and me. Nothing”.
 
It is one of the novel’s tragedies that Callum’s idealism and optimism are crushed by the parochialism and prejudice of society. We see a dramatic change in this character as he takes on the weight of his family’s expectations. His father is extremely proud that his son has gain entry to the prestigious Heathcroft. However, Callum struggles under the burden of responsibility. His father is living vicariously through his so: ‘A son of mine at Heathcroft School.’ Dad shook his head, his spoon poised before his lips. “Imagine that”.
 
 
Callum’s mother, however is not blind to the challenges facing her son as she tries to point these out: ‘But I think you and your father are underestimating how much of a …………………challenge it’s going to be. I don’t want to see you getting upset”. Callum is reluctant to quell the hopes and aspirations of his father so soon and is quite evasive in response to his father’s query as to how his first day went: ‘The honest one or the acceptable one? “It was ok Dad”, I fibbed. Once we got to school it was alright”.
 
He develops into a discerning character who is completely aware of the disparities that exist between noughts and crosses: ‘They all looked at us noughts through their nostrils’. He describes how unjustly he is treated in school: ‘The teachers had totally ignored us, and the Crosses had used any excuse to bump into us and knock our books on the floor, and even the noughts serving in the food hall had made sure they served everyone else in the queue before us’.
 
Callum is an extremely solicitous and loyal character especially when it comes to his family and friends. We see the solicitous side of his character when he tries to shield his emotionally vulnerable and delusional sister, Lynette from the truth- the fact that she is not a Cross. He is quite loyal and protective of Sephy and is outraged when she is assaulted in the toilets by the students of Heathcroft. He is completely aware that their friendship has turned her into a social pariah. Again we see his solicitous nature when he rebukes Sephy for using alcohol as a means of escaping her problems: ‘No, you’re worse. You’re a drunk. A lush. An alcy’. He knows Sephy and knows exactly what to say to her in order to get a reaction.
 
Callum suffers discrimination at Heathcroft when he is wrongfully suspended because his father has been wrongfully accused of the Dundale bombing. He is told by the governors: ‘The governors and I have decided that it would serve everyone’s best interests if you were suspended for a while’. However, Callum does not accept his suspension acquiescently: ‘I’m guilty until my dad’s proven innocent? He defiantly walks out: ‘I turned back and slammed the door as hard as I could”. However, this incident is extremely traumatic for him: ‘I was being gutted like a fish wriggling for its life on a slab’.
 
The miscarriage of justice involving his father and his father’s subsequent death has a profound impact on him. He is clearly traumatised by what has happened and as a result he becomes extremely embittered by life. His nobility is corrupted and he becomes a cynical, bitter hard character. He declares how:
 
‘Revenge is a dish best served cold- and they’re right. I served it icy-cold. And I lost more of myself as I did so. But that was ok. Because the Callum Ryan McGregor who loved to sit on the beach and watch the sun go down didn’t exist any more. He’d been taken and I’d been left in his place. A poor trade, but an inevitable one’.
 
Callum’s humanity is vitiated as he tries to come to terms with his father’s death, his sister’s death and the disappearance of his brother. He describes how he is able to work his way up the Liberation Militia. He describes the different tests that he has to undergo in order to prove himself. He ruthlessly describes the different tests that he underwent:
 
‘To make it as a grunt I had to beat up a dagger. I ambushed one on his way home from work and knocked seven bells out of him. To prove myself as a private I had to take on three of them, but for that I was allowed to be armed. I had a knife and I’d taught been how to use it’.
 
However, despite this ruthlessness of character he still retains his humanity when it comes to Sephy, helping her escape from his brother and the other members of the Liberation Militia. He pointed to Orion’s Belt and told her to follow it until she reached the road. It is a huge miscarriage of justice that Callum is executed for a crime that he did not commit even though Sephy stated that he did not rape her.

The theme of racism in ‘Noughts and Crosses’ is central to this novel. Even the title of the novel alludes to the divisive nature of the society conveyed in this novel. It is a divided society wherein the noughts, the whites are treated as inferior and subservient to the socially superior elite, Crosses. The word ‘noughts’ connotes the whites’ inferior status in society. They are nothing, worthless and are not accorded with the same human dignity as the socially superior blacks. The word ‘Crosses’ has religious connotations in that the cross is a religious symbol and they believe that they are God’s chosen people. Callum’s delusional sister Lynette states ‘I am a Cross- closer to God’.
 
These divisive labels dictate one’s position in society. The noughts subsist whereas the crosses attend the best schools, live in affluent areas and hold all the positions of power and esteem in society. The noughts engage in menial work, aspiring only to be servants to the superior crosses. They have no hope of social advancement or bettering themselves because of the colour of the skin. They are often referred to by the Crosses derogatorily as ‘blankers’, a dehumanising term that robs them of their humanity and dignity.
 
There are many key moments in this novel wherein the theme of racism is made manifest. One of the most disconcerting is the riot outside Heathcroft High School because some of the noughts had managed to pass the entrance exam. Callum McGregor, one of the novel’s protagonists, is one such student. Ironically, Callum managed to pass the entrance exam with the help of his Cross friend, Sephy Hadley. Blackman describes this scene in such a way that the violence is clearly palpable. We see the events as they unfold through the eyes of Sephy. As she pulls up in her chauffeur driven Mercedes, she hears the racist mantra ‘No Blankers in our school’ being shouted over and over. Sephy describes how ‘There was roaring in my head which matched the roaring in my head which matched the roaring all around me. I was in the middle of chaos’. The scene is one of anarchy. She describes how ‘the crowd surged forward at that, the palpable wave of anger hitting me almost like a punch’.
 
 
Blackman evokes the tense and dramatic scene by her adroit use of verbs, adjectives and similes: ‘The police lines trying to hold the crowds back were knocked to the ground as the crowd rushed forward like air into a vacuum’ and ‘and I’ve never felt such fist-clenching, teeth-gritting fury’. This tense scene reaches its climax in a violent assault against a young nought girl ‘Blood trickled from her, and her eyes were closed’. This scene is made all the more disconcerting when one considers the fact that this horrific act of violence occurs outside a school, a place of learning, where children are supposed to feel safe and secure.
 
Another example of the unjust status quo is conveyed in how the noughts students are treated in Heathcroft. We are told by Callum that ‘the teachers had totally ignored us, and the Crosses had used any excuse to bump into us and knock our books on the floor, even the noughts serving in the food hall had made sure they served everyone in the queue before us.’ Only what Kamal Hadley deems as the ‘crème de la crème of nought youth to joining our educational institutions’ highlights the injustice and disparity between the two races.
 
However, Callum makes it explicitly clear that even those who are allowed to join Heathcroft are treated in a condescending manner: ‘They all looked at us noughts through their nostrils’. The fact that Callum lies initially to his father as to how his first day went underscores his growing awareness of how unjust the status quo is. It is Callum’s pragmatic realist of a mother who points this out to Callum ‘But I think you and your father are underestimating how much of a……………challenge it’s going to be’. Callum who is quite a resilient character by nature, assures his mother: ‘I’ve got into Heathcroft now and nothing, not even dynamite, is going to get me out’. This remark underscores the tragedy that lies at the heart of this novel in which idealism, hope and optimism are crushed by bitterness, parochialism and prejudice.
 
Again the theme of racism is blatantly made evident in the miscarriage of justice against Callum’s father. Callum’s father is wrongfully accused of planting the bomb in the Dundale shopping centre.
He is made to confess to a crime that he hasn’t committed because he is told that the authorities had his son in custody: ‘Those bastard! They said they had him’. He tells his wife Meggie and Callum that ‘I had no choice,’ Dad repeated. Anger held is body tense and rigid’. Callum’s father is aware that ‘the crosses had set him up, framed him’. Ryan, unintentionally has become embroiled in the injustice and corruption declaring ‘No Meggie. I’m guilty . That’s the truth and I’m sticking to it. I won’t let them put you and Callum in prison for this. Or Jude………..But at least my confession means he won’t die.’ This is a huge miscarriage of justice as an innocent man is hung for a crime that he didn’t commit. It is highly farcical that Ryan McGregor conforms to the unjust the status quo in order to save the lives of his family.
 
Furthermore the divisive nature of this society is conveyed in the fact that Callum and Sephy cannot be together because of the colour of their skin. Sephy’s family find it totally incredulous that she would willingly sleep with Callum. Callum is accused of rape despite Sephy’s repeated attempts to clear his name. Sephy is adamant that their baby will know of and love her father.
 
‘And our child will love you’.

Persephone Hadley

Key Words

Initially……..
Has a sheltered upbringing
Affluent background
Naïve
Empathetic
Caring
Loyal
Querulous
Tomboyish
Non-conformist
Defiant
As the novel progresses…….
Vulnerable
Secretive
Articulate
Non-conformist
Self-reliant
Psychologically resilient
Realist & pragmatic
Courageous- not afraid to challenge the status quo


Persephone Hadley is one of the novel’s protagonists. In many respects, this character develops and evolves over the course of the novel. Initially, Sephy is conveyed as an affluent Cross kid, whose father holds an esteem position in the government. Her family are seen as stalwarts in socially elite circles. In turn, Sephy is expected to conform to certain social norms as many people look up to the Hadleys. In many ways, this is extremely difficult for Sephy who is by nature a very tomboyish girl. As a result, she can at times appear querulous, challenging her parents and quarrelling with her sister Minnie. Sephy has had a very sheltered existence and at the beginning of the novel, she is quite oblivious to the disparity between noughts and crosses.
 
From her friendship with Callum, we learn that she is a caring, empathetic friend. She assiduously helps her friend Callum with his revision for the Heathcroft entrance exam, constantly supporting him and encouraging him not to give up. However, Sephy’s character is one that experiences a lot of trauma throughout the novel and as a result, we see the character of Sephy evolving into a very resilient, self-reliant and courageous young woman. Sephy is extremely naïve on her first day back at Heathcroft and not at all clued into the social norms and bigotries that separate noughts and crosses.
 
In the canteen she must choose her loyalties between Callum, her nought friend or her cross friends. Sephy chooses to sit beside Callum in a show of solidarity. However, he is unhappy that she is drawing unwanted attention to him and his nought friends. Her cross friends are none too happy either and begin to label her a ‘blanker lover’. As a result, Sephy finds herself ostracised. She becomes a social pariah because of the divisive nature of society. Sephy becomes the victim of bullying in the toilets by a group of girls in Heathcroft.
Sephy struggles to keep up her friendship with Callum at Heathcroft and this devastates her immensely.
 
We see the solicitous aspect of Sephy’s character when Ryan McGregor is wrongfully accused of the Dundale bombing. She is incredulous to the events as they unfold, remarking ‘Ryan McGregor just had to be found not guilty. It was only right and proper. It was only just. It was only justice.’ But by now we see a more discerning Sephy as she is more aware of the disparity that exists between noughts and crosses. She knows intuitively that Ryan McGregor is doomed. She declares that ‘Ryan McGregor wasn’t guilty. So why did I feel like I was the only Cross in the world- to believe that?’
 
After Callum’s expulsion from Heathcroft, Sephy begins to emulate her mother’s self-harming tendencies by turning to alcohol. For Sephy, drinking is cathartic. It is a means of escapism, allowing her to forget all her worries. She describes how ‘a couple of drinks and I don’t mind about anything. Isn’t that cool?’ Sephy describes how she ‘limits’ herself to one glass per night, thinking she is in control but it is clearly evident that she is spiralling out of control. It is only when she begins Chivers boarding school that she realises the extent of her problem:
 
‘I didn’t really believe I was drinking that much and I certainly wasn’t an alcoholic, but after the second day of feeling wretched and wrung out, I finally realised, I was suffering from alcohol withdrawal pains’. She describes how she had to ‘fight hard against the sudden cravings’ she got from a couple of glasses of wine or cider, and how she had to bury herself in schoolwork and activities as a sort of distraction. Callum disparagingly labels Sephy as a ‘drunk. A lush. An alcy’. This retort by Callum has the desired effect as Sephy cannot bear Callum’s disapproval: ‘I covered my ears. ‘Don’t say that. That’s enough’.
 
Chivers proves to be a very wise decision on Sephy’s behalf. It is at Chivers that she develops and matures into an inspirational young woman. She becomes more resilient after her struggle with alcohol. She becomes more self-reliant and independent, immersing herself in a wide variety of activities offered at Chivers. She becomes an extremely articulate character as a result of joining a dissident group who believed in the ‘true integration between noughts and crosses’. Sephy describes how this dissident group as the ‘one thing that kept me focused……… it was my reason for doing well’.
 
She becomes even more of a non-conformist in that she challenges the injustice of the status quo describing how they were ‘trying to do something about it-albeit from behind the scenes. We moved quietly but irrevocably, like a relentless army of tiny termites eating away at the rotten fabric of a house’. We see her solicitous nature in her decision to become a lawyer:
‘I’ve decided to be a lawyer. But I’m only going to work on those cases that I believe in. I’m going to be another Kelani Adams. I’m going to stand up and speak out’.
 
As the novel progresses, Sephy becomes more of a realist and a pragmatist declaring that she has ‘stopped brooding and I’ve stopped yearning for the impossible’. She is quite resigned to the fact that her and Callum are over and it would never have worked in the first place because of the divisive nature of their society: ‘Maybe in another lifetime or in a parallel universe somewhere Callum and I could be together the way we should be. But not here’.
 
She appreciates that her family are a negative element in her life and she makes the very tough decision to distance herself from them in order for her to retain her sanity. This is no easy decision for any young person to make. She describes how trapped and confined poor Minnie feels by their needy, over-dependent mother. She describes how her ‘mother cries or throws a tantrum’ when Minnie raises the subject of her going to university. Sephy is discerning in that she recognises that her mother is an emotional parasite and she feels happy about her decision to leave home and attend Chivers boarding school: ‘I’m glad I got out before her. Selfish but true’.
 
Sephy emerges as a very brave and defiant character in that she has to fight both of her parents on the issue of her having an abortion: ‘I’m going to keep my baby….. It’s my body and my baby, and I’m keeping it’.
 
She repeatedly states over and over that Callum didn’t rape her. When she refuses to comply with her father’s wishes to have an abortion, her father assaults her: ‘Dad slapped me so hard he knocked me off my feet’. Horrifically, Kalmal Hadley, so call pillar of society disowns his daughter because she refuses to have an abortion: ‘You are no longer my daughter’. He derogatorily labels her a ‘blanker’s slut’ and declares that she will have an abortion before he allows her to ‘embarrass’ him any further. She describes how she feels at this moment ‘Alone’.
 
Her father’s derisive words really wounded her as she buries her face in her hands and cries, feeling utterly alone and devastated. We see the resilient nature of Sephy when her father tries one last time to coerce her into having an abortion. Kamal Hadley employs emotional blackmail over his daughter, claiming that she alone has the power to save Callum’s life. We see her strength of character shine in what is an impossible situation: ‘Callum’s life or our baby’s? That was the choice’. We see how Sephy remains loyal to Callum to the very end by repeatedly shouting at him: ‘I love you Callum. And our chid will love you. I love you Callum, I’ll always love you’. Sephy remains loyal to Callum’s memory by naming her baby daughter after Callum, Callie Rose McGregor.