The Nickel Boys Essay Questions

How do Turner and Elwood serve as foils for each other?

Turner and Elwood are almost opposites and often contrast with each other, both in action and mentality. Elwood remains idealistic throughout his time at Nickel and continues to try and escape. He retains hope, writing letters to The Chicago Defender and trying to draw the public's attention to the injustices occurring within Nickel Academy's walls. He vows to try and get out of Nickel by earning merits and ascending the ranks that the school uses to determine when a boy graduates. Turner, on the other hand, loses all hope. He resigns himself to the life that Nickel imposes, and tries to get by through passive resistance. For example, in order to get out of work, he eats soap powder that makes him sick and allows him to stay in the hospital. He often makes fun of Elwood for his idealism, laughing at him for enjoying the school's disgusting oatmeal and telling him that his escape plans are impossible. Turner and Elwood represent contrasting ways of confronting the same traumatic situation that Nickel presents them with. Elwood desires to fight back; Turner does not believe that fighting will be successful.

How are Turner and Elwood's roles reversed upon their escape attempt?

It was always Elwood who dreamed of escape. In the middle of the novel, Elwood vows to have a fifth, "alternate" way out of Nickel: he hopes to get rid of Nickel and destroy the entire institution by exposing its corruption. However, when his attempt at getting recognition fails and his plan is discovered, he is put into solitary confinement to await when he will be taken "out back" and presumably murdered for his rebellion. Turner takes on the role of being the one to push for escape, reversing the previous power dynamic. Turner comes to Elwood's cell and they attempt to escape together, both running for freedom. In a final tragic turn, Elwood, who always yearned for freedom, is the one who is murdered by Harper. Turner, who always tacitly accepted his state, is thrust into a freedom that he never even thought of fighting for.

Identify one instance of foreshadowing in the novel.

The novel foreshadows Elwood's beating at Nickel when it presents the scene in which Elwood engages in a physical fight with two kids who attempt to steal candy from Mr. Marconi's tobacco shop. Elwood is always focused on what he believes to be morally right and ethical. He is haunted by the instances of inequality that he sees around him, which is depicted through his relationship to the civil rights movement. He feels compelled and drawn to it, especially after seeing his school teacher and mentor, Mr. Hill, at one of the rallies. The moment when Elwood fights the kids who are trying to steal is emblematic of Elwood's dedication to upholding what he thinks is right. The only time that he will engage in physical violence is when he believes that someone is being unfairly hurt—a scenario that repeats itself once he is at Nickel Academy, where he sees Corey getting beat up by Black Mike and Lonnie and tries to stand up for Corey.

How does the "senselessness" of the violence at Nickel Academy represent or reflect the motivations behind racism, racist violence, and oppression?

The more time Elwood spends at Nickel Academy, the more he realizes that there is no order to the violence. Boys are beaten, murdered, and raped repeatedly. The level of punishment almost never mirrors the supposed crime or infraction that is being punished. When Elwood stands up to Black Mike and Lonnie, for example, he notices that he and Corey—the two boys who did not instigate the fight—receive more licks than Black Mike and Lonnie, who were the aggressors and would logically deserve a greater punishment. This senselessness, and the absurd intensity of the violence that is dispensed at Nickel, reveals a grim thesis about human nature, which is mostly voiced by Turner. Men are evil; they desire to do evil even when there is no imperative to do so. They will revert to violence if given the freedom to. This absurdity relates to racism because it allows the reader to see racist violence illuminated as something that is brutally evil and without sense. It has no ideological basis, no support, no argument. It is simply evil, its only intention being to hurt others and gain power.

How does the use of flashbacks and flash-forwards influence the reader's understanding of the Nickel Boys' trauma and post-trauma?

By jumping between the past and the present, the novel is able to present the realities of surviving extreme trauma of the kind that the boys at Nickel Academy experienced. The juxtaposition between the two becomes extremely clear due to the narrative switching: the memory of a certain traumatic experience that occurred at Nickel is still fresh for the reader as they learn of a boy who has descended into alcoholism, for example, as Chickie Pete does presumably because he is unable to cope with the ongoing memories of his time at Nickel Academy. Likewise, the prologue, where the boys are introduced in the present and as a collective, allows the reader to witness the effects of Nickel before learning about the details. The reader is already intrigued by the dark, cruel mystery of a place that could destroy so many lives, that could leave so many bodies behind and exist almost in secret. The two time periods, in close proximity, heighten the tension that the novel is able to create by allowing for ambiguity and resolution.