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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. From what material were the buildings on Nickel's property composed?
(a) Metal.
(b) Stone.
(c) Wood.
(d) Brick.

2. Which character was NOT a part of the group of the three most fearsome boys at Nickel?
(a) Lonnie.
(b) Desmond.
(c) Griff.
(d) Black Mike.

3. In what suburb of a large Florida town did Elwood live with his grandmother Harriet?
(a) Broward.
(b) McCullough.
(c) Laughlin.
(d) Frenchtown.

4. At what time of the morning did the Nickel staff arrive in order to take Elwood and the others to receive their punishment for fighting?
(a) 3.
(b) 4.
(c) 1.
(d) 2.

5. Superintendent Spencer told Elwood and the other newly-arrived Nickel Boys that they would be allowed to leave once they reached what status?
(a) Ace.
(b) Explorer.
(c) Grub.
(d) Pioneer.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the name of Elwood's house father at Nickel?

2. When Elwood first met the boys who slept on either side of them, he learned that their names were what?

3. While the black inmates of Nickel called the building used for whippings "the White House," who called the building "the Ice Cream Factory" (66)?

4. What was Elwood's answer when he was later asked "how many licks he got" (68) at the White House?

5. For how many years had Blakely worked at Nickel prior to Elwood's arrival?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In what way does Whitehead intertwine the motif of dreams with the theme of escape within Chapter 7?

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

4. How are the themes of brutality and oppression intertwined within Chapter 6?

5. In what way does Whitehead employ foreshadowing about Superintendent Spencer's character?

6. How many boys were incarcerated at Nickel at the time of Elwood's arrival and in what way was the campus divided into two?

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

8. 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?

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

(see the answer keys)

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