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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. On what "side" of the Nickel Academy's property was the "secret graveyard" (3) discovered?

2. Which members of the Richmond Hotel staff played a trick on 12-year-old Elwood using a set of encyclopedias?

3. In what month did Mr. Hill visit Elwood in order to tell him about the college program for high school students?

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

5. How many boys in total did the Nickel staff get out of their beds the night they punished Elwood and some others for fighting?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. Who was Mr. Hill?

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

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

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. 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

Discuss Whitehead's purpose for juxtaposing at least two different locations in a particular way within the text of The Nickel Boys. Examples could include locations such as the white side of the Nickel campus versus the black side of the Nickel campus or Marvin Griggs Technical College versus Nickel's ancient schoolhouse.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Choose an object from The Nickel Boys, such as the strap, the record album containing Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches, or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

(see the answer keys)

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