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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. Mr. Hill started teaching history at Lincoln High School when Elwood was a student in which year of high school?

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

3. Within what room at Nickel did Elwood intervene in a fight, earning him a trip to the White House?

4. Turner told Elwood upon their first meeting that he hailed from what city?

5. When Harriet found out about Elwood's participation in a protest, in what way did she punish him?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Which two momentous events happened on Elwood's second day at Nickel, as announced at the start of Chapter 5?

4. 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?

5. How many boys were incarcerated at Nickel at the time of Elwood's arrival and in what way was the campus divided into two?

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

7. Who was Elwood and what event prompted him to need to return to Nickel?

8. For what purpose does Whitehead allude to The Andy Griffith Show in Chapter 7?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What techniques does Whitehead use to mislead the reader throughout the narrative of The Nickel Boys and for what purpose does he enact these instances of misdirection?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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