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Crossing: Willesden Lane to Kilburn High Road
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in NW, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Class Identity and Social Mobility
Geography and Human Connection
Sex and Relationships
Altruism
Summary
Analysis
Nathan and Natalie walk down to near a tube station in an area called Shoot Up Hill. There, Nathan goes to meet two girls by a Chinese takeaway, and they exchange something that Natalie can’t see. One of the girls wears a headscarf. Natalie asks about the girls, but Nathan says they’re “Nobody.” The two of them have left the council estates and now walk past houses that have increased to 20 or 30 times their value a decade ago.
The girl in the headscarf is meant to evoke Shar, but whether or not it’s actually her is a question that the book never answers, similar to how it’s never clear whether or not Nathan is the one who kicked Olive. This uncertainty emphasizes how Shar and Nathan remain a misunderstood “other” to people like Natalie and Leah.
Themes
