Privilege and Inequality in ‘’Noughts and Crosses’’
In her story ‘’Noughts and Crosses’’, Malorie Blackman shows many instances and
struggles between the characters involving privilege and/or the lack of such.
Through these struggles, each characters individual privilege influences them differently as
shown throughout the story, as they either strive to break down barriers, or overcome
barriers set in front of them. Blackman shows how the Crosses use power and privilege to
maintain a racist society and how Noughts fight to make a change.
The unfairness to Noughts expressed by Crosses in society span from exclusion to
they’re own privileges such as education shown in the protest; ‘’No Blankers in our
School’’(55), a slogan which
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Noughts enrolling at a prestigious school such as
Heathcroft in that society was unheard of and had received hostile responses from Cross
students which in turn caused a school riot. Within school, Nought's have to sit at a secluded table away from the student body, considered the inferior kind to Crosses.
Sephy had gotten in trouble for sitting with them; ‘’She wasn’t telling me to go sit back at
my table.
She was telling me to go back to my own kind.’’(74). Crosses multiple times have regarded
themselves as a superior race to Noughts despite them all being the same, human.
Another instance of inequality within this society is the privilege of transportation. This is
shown as Callum had only seen Crosses on the train, him being the only Nought; ‘’I
watched the cursory glances they gave the ID passes of all the Crosses in the carriage.
I was the only Nought.’’ These acts expressed by crosses towards Callum and other
Noughts throughout the story foreshadow how they’re society is towards them, and in turn
Creates resentment and hatred on both sides, Callum’s resentment for Sephy from this
event in the story and beyond creates resentment for her and crosses as a whole
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He said that once they had you they never let go. I learned what he
meant over the next couple of years.’’(336). This implies that Callum had joined and been
apart of the militia for quite some time. He believes that by joining the Liberation Militia
and using violence as well as ransom would be best to get the government's attention and
remove society’s barriers by force. Sephy, on the other hand, had two alternate methods to
violence; ‘’I joined a dissident group. We were Crosses fighting for a change in the
System.’’(334), members of the said group all shared similar and the same ideals Sephy had
for change, these were crosses who could use their own privilege to make a difference and
create equal rights between noughts and crosses. She also opted to become a lawyer who
fights for equality for Noughts; ‘’I’ve decided to be a lawyer. But I'm only gonna work on
those cases that I believe in, i'm gonna be another Kelani Adams.’’ This is another example
by using your power to create a change, a judicial position would grant her some power to create a change in the form of giving Noughts more of a fair trial in court unlike what
"Why can 't black people just work harder?" Hard work results in success, and black people are in many cases looked at as less successful than white people. Therefore, that means that black people simply work less hard than white people. This is the perspective that many privileged white people may have when discussing the issue of white privilege. They fail to realize that white privilege plays a significant role in what opportunities someone might have. In Princeton University student, Tal Fortgang 's essay, "Checking My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege", he criticizes those who tell him to "Check your privilege". He argues that the phrase discredits his achievements, and that white privilege is not the reason that he became
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Polletta, Francesca and James Jasper. “Collective Identity and Social Movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 27.1 (2001): 283–305. Print.
The daughter alludes to an idea that her mother was also judged harshly and made to feel ashamed. By the daughters ability to see through her mothers flaws and recognize that she was as wounded as the child was, there is sense of freedom for both when the daughter find her true self. Line such as “your nightmare of weakness,” and I learned from you to define myself through your denials,” present the idea that the mother was never able to defeat those that held her captive or she denied her chance to break free. The daughter moments of personal epiphany is a victory with the mother because it breaks a chain of self-loathing or hatred. There is pride and love for the women they truly were and is to be celebrated for mother and daughter.
Slamming the door behind her in haste Eliza peers out the stained-glass window depicting Jesus’ lifeless body tethered to the cross. She surveys the garden for a sign of the threatening stranger. There is nothing there. The figure had faded away and disappeared.
Oppression is a term that has been used throughout history to describe the injustices brought upon minority groups. Feminist writer Marilyn Frye shared the definition of oppression, which essentially means to shape or conform certain groups of people (for this paper women will be used as the primary example) into socially constructed ideals through restrictions that mold and immobilize minority groups or females (Frye 11). According to Marilyn Frye, this term is sometimes loosely thrown around and used out of the term’s true context. The misuse of this term often creates a misconstrued view of what true oppression is and how particular groups of people are able to function within
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influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
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