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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. For how many years had the Nickel Academy been closed when the college students located the secret cemetery on its grounds?

2. In what year did Elwood receive "the best gift of his life" (11) for Christmas?

3. The floor of the White House carried the stench of what substance "that had soaked into the concrete" (67)?

4. How many days in total had Elwood attended classes at Melvin Griggs Technical before he was unjustly accused of stealing a car?

5. In what Florida city did Elwood live with his grandmother Harriet?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way was Elwood's family history intertwined with the Richmond Hotel in Tallahassee?

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

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

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

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

6. Describe Elwood's family, as it is presented in Chapters 1 through 3.

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

8. In what way did the grounds of Nickel surprise Elwood upon his arrival and what is this detail's significance?

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

10. What does the industrial fan within Chapter 6 symbolize and with what theme does Whitehead connect the fan?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the topic of political activism treated within The Nickel Boys and how does its treatment relate to the novel's depicted messages?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the role of Elwood's grandmother Harriet within The Nickel Boys. How does Whitehead use Harriet's role to highlight themes included within the overall narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Sensory details are used frequently by Whitehead in order to create vivid pictures of the reformatory school central to the narrative of The Nickel Boys. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Whitehead’s creation of an effective novel setting.

(see the answer keys)

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