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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When Harriet found out about Elwood's participation in a protest, in what way did she punish him?
(a) She beat him with a belt.
(b) She made him do yard work.
(c) She took away his record player.
(d) She took away his college savings.

2. In what month did Mr. Hill visit Elwood in order to tell him about the college program for high school students?
(a) August.
(b) September.
(c) July.
(d) June.

3. How many boys in total did the Nickel staff get out of their beds the night they punished Elwood and some others for fighting?
(a) 5.
(b) 4.
(c) 6.
(d) 3.

4. Which character was Elwood trying to protect when he got in trouble for fighting?
(a) Turner.
(b) Desmond.
(c) Gil.
(d) Cory.

5. The national press picked up the story about the secret cemetery at Nickel Academy after a newspaper from what city published a story about it first?
(a) Orlando.
(b) Tallahassee.
(c) Miami.
(d) Boca Raton.

Short Answer Questions

1. The end of the Prologue introduces Elwood the Nickel Boy in what way?

2. The entirety of the Nickel property numbered how many acres in total?

3. For how many nights was Elwood permitted to sleep in his own home between his sentencing and his departure for Nickel?

4. How many days in total had Elwood attended classes at Melvin Griggs Technical before he was unjustly accused of stealing a car?

5. How old was Elwood when both of his parents "took off" (27) and left him in the care of his grandmother Harriet?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Mr. Hill?

2. What does the industrial fan within Chapter 6 symbolize and with what theme does Whitehead connect the fan?

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

4. 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)?

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

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

7. How does Whitehead use personification to depict the way that Harriet tried not to get her hopes up about the progress the black community might make in the wake of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision?

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

9. How did Elwood turn the nasty trick played by the Richmond Hotel staff into a boon?

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

(see the answer keys)

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