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Callum: A Noughts and Crosses Short Story

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You also understand that Callum's family is the victim of oppression in more than one dimension (his mother was fired from her job, subverting the education of one child - Jude - towards another's. The other in this case being Callum.) Callum and Sephie live in a social climate that makes it very difficult for them to be friends. The story doesn't do it in a way that obviously milks the dramatic contexts. Callum wants an education, though his family pushes him with respect to his achievements. Sephy's in an isolated environment with respect to her father's ranking and everything she does gets put across in a measure of her "privileged" lifestyle. So when Callum, pretty much the closest person she has to a friend, is allowed to attend her school among a small group of Noughts - it hits very close to home in its parallels to what happened with integration of the schools/working against the Jim Crow "separate but equal" measure in our real society. They are older now. They are running the colleges, the schools, the newspapers, some are aiming for politics and they are nice to your face whilst maintaining their pernicious attitudes. They teach a form of history that is fake where they were 'stolen from Africa' rather than sold, they worship some of the most evil people in America looking only to see what their attitudes are towards white people and not to anything else.

The content is brutal, but it has to be for the story to be authentic. It is also honest and doesn't hide from the fact that the consequences of racism and prejudice can create evil in the form of terrorism. A tale of race and equality, never patronising to it's target audience and giving us no answers to a world that's unforgiving and cruel. The ending is powerful, beautiful and devastating and I cried like a baby. The plot itself-the story arc that propels the book along-is pretty much a thin, Things That Happen, standard kind of plot that wasn't hugely appealing but kept the whole thing tied together quite nicely. There are a few surprises, but I'd wager they're nothing you can't find in half a dozen other novels that are of the dystopian nature.

During the party, Tobey has sex with a woman named Misty, who becomes pregnant and gives birth to Tobey's daughter Libby. He attempts to have a relationship with her for their child's sake, but it falls apart. I've finally figured it out. I'm dead. I died a long time ago, woke up in hell and didn't even realize.

Months pass. Callum is lying low in case the police find out that he was involved in Sephy’s kidnapping. Sephy discovers she is pregnant with his child. Callum is caught and sentenced to death. The last thing he hears before his death is Sephy shouting she loves him. At the time of the series, slavery had been abolished for some time, but segregation, similar to the Jim Crow Laws, continues to operate to keep the Crosses (dark-skinned people) in control of the Noughts (lighter-skinned people). An international organisation, the Pangaean Economic Community, exists. Seeming to be similar to the United Nations in scope but similar to the European Union in powers, it is playing a role in forcing change by directives and boycotts. Britain is known as Albion, Africa is one country called Zafrika, and Scandinavia is too, known as Fenno-Scandia, the only Nought country left. Sephy is smart and courageous – the daughter of a powerful politician. Her relationship with her family, however, is very strained.I could move my hands and... And. Anything I liked. Caress or strangle. Kill or cure. Her or me. Me or her." I just....there were so many moments where hate spewed from the two main characters and it broke my heart. They loved each other, but all these horrible situations kept happening where Callum's class would show and he would get this visceral feeling where he resented all the crosses (naturally and understandably), including Sephy. It's so easy to group those we are closest to with a bad situation and I found it to be very realistic-but it still broke my damn heart. Each time they'd overcome something, another obstacle catapulted itself right in their way, each situation more venomous than the last. It was a great look at the struggle between different races and the battles that can come with class and hierarchy. I felt it to the bottom of my soul, and it definitely flipped the coin-quite a bit. I would have loved this book had I read it as a teenager, I know that for sure. As an adult, I found the chapters a little brief, a bit hurried, a tad too unsubtle. Which would be fine for an adolescent's attention span. Callum knows all too well. From being constantly suspected of every possible crime and assumed the worst of, to being denied an education and treated like he's not just stupid but incapable of learning the skills the Crosses have - every day he faces the fact that he's lower than second-class because of one arbitrary fact he has no control over: the colour of his skin.

My emotions are not letting me gather my thoughts hence I'll just write few things which I can remember off the top of my head and then shut up and go away in search of another box of tissues. And what about playing Sephy? What’s the one thing Masali will take from her time portraying this extraordinary young woman? She thought for a moment, before replying: “Leading with empathy, first and foremost - and never to be afraid to fight what you believe in.” During the next three months Libby is elected head student of Heathcroft High, and she and Troy form a sibling relationship and undergo therapy for their experiences, while Callie Rose considers starting a career in politics. What really has surprised me about this book is how it is really aimed towards people in their preteens and teens. Towards the start it seemed like the perfect introduction for the young adult genre for younger readers, but the ending is incredibly graphic (see my comments on the romance and the ending below). Sixteen years have passed since Sephy Hadley first met Callum McGregor. For Callie Rose, growing up mixed race in a world where bitter prejudice divides Noughts and Crosses has meant she’s an outsider wherever she turns.However, the themes of the book (racism and things relating to it) is exceptionally poignant and very important. It is at times obvious-which it needs to be-and sometimes blunt-which it needs to be-and often harsh-which it needs to be. I can't say I've read anything like this before but I couldn't help from feeling annoyed that it wasn't written with me in mind. I hated all the characters to the point that I really d I think Sephy and Callum's romantic ties could've been better portrayed and in maybe more subtle cues within many of the overarching punches. Somehow I wanted more from it, though I saw the conflict between them and understood that while there were aspects that drove them apart, it was an appreciation and respect for each other that kept them close. Towards the end of the book, I had a problem with the sequencing leading up to the ending - I understood the context, but the development didn't match to me and I don't think many people would get the significance of that parallel and turn in the conflict for the social attitudes of the time/issue it's mirroring.

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