View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Elwood decided in Chapter 8 that he would get out of Nickel how many months before the judge's sentence was up?

2. In Chapter 11, Denise and Elwood watched which movie together that starred Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier?

3. In what year did Elwood move to New York City?

4. What percentage of Elwood's college fund was used to hire a lawyer to help him get sent to Nickel?

5. What did Elwood do with Chickie Pete's red napkin at the end of Chapter 13?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Elwood meet Denise?

2. What happened on Christmas Day that caused the Nickel boys to feel "like boys from nice houses in nice neighborhoods" (116)?

3. What happened to the money Elwood had saved up for college?

4. Which staff member at Nickel did Elwood name as the man he would like to poison?

5. How did Elwood discover that Griff had been instructed by Superintendent Spencer to throw the boxing match?

6. What annual tradition existed at Nickel that involved one white inmate and one black inmate?

7. How was Griff punished for his mistake in the boxing match?

8. What event caused Elwood to decide to put into motion his plan to "get rid of Nickel" (157)?

9. What does the set of "Chipwick's British Classics" (84) symbolize within the novel?

10. For what reason did Elwood become angry at Chickie Pete during their reunion?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Whitehead’s use of metaphor, simile, imagery, and other literary devices as a means to send particular thematic messages within the narrative of The Nickel Boys.

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

Discuss Whitehead's treatment of truth, lies, and hypocrisy within the text of The Nickel Boys.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,078 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample