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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. Which two classes did Elwood miss on his very first day of educational instruction at Nickel?

2. Which character was Elwood trying to protect when he got in trouble for fighting?

3. Who presented Elwood with a recording called "Martin Luther King at Zion Hill" (11)?

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

5. What machine was used to mask the screams of the boys as they were punished within the White House?

Short Essay Questions

1. What disappointing news did Blakely reveal to Elwood about educational opportunities at Nickel?

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

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

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

5. 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)?

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

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

8. Who was Mr. Hill?

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

10. Which two momentous events happened on Elwood's second day at Nickel, as announced at the start of Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Whitehead’s messages about guilt and responsibility within The Nickel Boys. Focus especially on events such as Harriet’s untimely death one year after her grandson Elwood’s demise.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the interplay between the resolution of The Nickel Boys and one of the novel's main messages. How does Whitehead make connections between these elements and how does their juxtaposition help them get across one main message of the novel?

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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