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The Theme Of Holding Up The Universe By Jennifer Niven

812 Words4 Pages

My two chosen books are Holding up the Universe written by Jennifer Niven, and Noughts and Crosses written by Malorie Blackman. My first meaningful connection between the two books is the theme of forbidden love. My second important theme is alternating perspectives and my last significant connection is being confident in who you are. These three connections are representations of real-life issues faced by many people in today's world. My first connection between the two books is the theme of forbidden love. This is important because it is a prevalent idea throughout both texts. We see this in Noughts and Crosses because of racial segregation and motives. Callum and Sephy are not allowed to love each other because of their opposing skin …show more content…

An example of this in Holding up the Universe is when people gossip and spread rumours about Libby’s weight behind her back. Libby confronts the issue head-on by deciding to wear a purple bikini in the school halls for everyone to see. This shows that Libby is confident in her body and is refusing to mould herself into the quiet, scared fat girl that her peers want her to be. Because of her actions Libby’s principal decides to have a chat. Her Principal says “Someone’s been harassing you? Sending you a letter? Why didn’t you come to me?” (pg 315). Instead of letting this get to her and retreating into herself, she shows them that whilst she is big, that doesn’t define her. She also reminds people in her letter to the school that “YOU ARE WANTED. Big, small, tall, short, pretty, plain, friendly, shy” (pg 317). In writing this to students, she is also reminding herself of this. In Noughts and Crosses, we see this when Sephy tries to use her position in school and as a cross to her advantage. Sephy stands up to the people bullying Callum and the other Noughts. She isn’t afraid to be herself and doesn’t care what ‘society’ says she should do. Both of these examples show fearlessness and determination. Libby and Sephy are so confident in themselves that they don’t care what others

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