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1. What major discovery is described in the Prologue as having led to widespread media coverage focused on the Nickel Academy?

A group of archaeology students from the University of South Florida came to excavate the site of Nickel's official cemetery, a place called Boot Hill by former inmates. A student named Jody then located what she thought could be a "secret graveyard" (3) and when her professor gave credence to Jody's hunch, it was proven to be correct. There were indeed a number of boys buried in completely unmarked graves on the north side of the Nickel property, suggesting a hidden history of savagery, corruption, and deception.

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

The Prologue describes the way in which many former Nickel Boys had come to rely on each other in the few years before the discovery of the "secret graveyard" (3) had brought national media attention to the facility. Some return to the grounds of Nickel every year to participate in a "strange and necessary" (5) process of healing in solidarity with one another. Another moment when the theme of collectivism arises is when Nickel Boy support groups are described. The narrator states, "Together they performed their own phantom archaeology" and reassembled the found "fragments into confirmation of a shared darkness: If it is true for you, it is true for someone else, and you are no longer alone" (6).

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