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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. Turner told Elwood that only boys with what quality were ever taken "out back" (103)?

2. Neither Chickie Pete nor Elwood said whose name aloud during their foray into their pasts at Nickel?

3. Around what issue did the beliefs of Elwood and Denise not mesh, as described in Chapter 11?

4. When Elwood started his own moving company, he bought a 1967 van of what make?

5. In what building at Nickel was the basement termed "Lovers' Lane" located?

Short Essay Questions

1. What bad news did Harriet deliver to her grandson Elwood in Chapter 12 when she came for a visit after missing one due to illness?

2. What did adult Elwood do with the napkin associated with Chickie Pete and why?

3. At what conclusion did Elwood finally arrive when he contemplated the reason for his vicious beating in the White House?

4. Who was Chickie Pete and for what purpose does Whitehead devise his character?

5. What new opportunity did Elwood receive at Nickel due to Turner's recommendation?

6. What kind of strike was happening in New York City upon Elwood's arrival in the city as an adult?

7. How did Elwood meet Denise?

8. At what decision did Elwood arrive in relation to a date of release in Chapter 8?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Whitehead's message regarding the actions people must take in order to combat systematic racism built into the fabric of the United States?

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

Sensory details are used frequently by Whitehead in order to create vivid pictures of the reformatory school central to the narrative of The Nickel Boys. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Whitehead’s creation of an effective novel setting.

(see the answer keys)

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