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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Blakely told Elwood that the younger boys at Nickel were called by what name for an inexplicable reason?
(a) Janes.
(b) Chucks.
(c) Suits.
(d) Rents.

2. Who presented Elwood with a recording called "Martin Luther King at Zion Hill" (11)?
(a) Harriet.
(b) Mr. Hill.
(c) Evelyn.
(d) Mr. Marconi.

3. On what "side" of the Nickel Academy's property was the "secret graveyard" (3) discovered?
(a) South.
(b) East.
(c) North.
(d) West.

4. At the time when widespread media coverage focused on the Nickel Academy, how many Nickel Boy reunions had been held?
(a) 2.
(b) 10.
(c) 18.
(d) 5.

5. Within what room at Nickel did Elwood intervene in a fight, earning him a trip to the White House?
(a) The dining hall.
(b) Elwood's homeroom.
(c) The dormitory room.
(d) The bathroom.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Harriet found out about Elwood's participation in a protest, in what way did she punish him?

2. Elwood became transfixed by the photo essays published in which magazine sold in Mr. Marconi's shop?

3. How many afternoons did Elwood spend at the Richmond Hotel after the trick was played on him with the use of encyclopedias?

4. When Harriet worried about the dangers involved in fighting for civil rights, she always returned to her belief in what as "a fundamental virtue" (33)?

5. In what year did a group of Nickel's young inmates die in a dormitory fire?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what purpose does Whitehead allude to Life magazine within Chapter 2?

2. How does Whitehead use personification to depict the way that Harriet tried not to get her hopes up about the progress the black community might make in the wake of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision?

3. What happened to prevent Elwood from attending his first class at Marvin Griggs Technical?

4. What Christmas present did Elwood receive in 1962 that the narrator described as "the best gift of his life" (11)?

5. Who was Mr. Hill?

6. Who or what was Black Beauty within the twisted world of Nickel?

7. What was ironic about Harriet's punishment of Elwood upon learning that he had participated in a protest?

8. In what way does the theme of collectivism arise within the Prologue of The Nickel Boys?

9. What examples does the narrator use to back up the claim that Harriet was rarely able to "make proper goodbyes to her loved ones" (70)?

10. How did Elwood turn the nasty trick played by the Richmond Hotel staff into a boon?

(see the answer keys)

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