Summary

In Chapter 8, Elwood accepts that he will receive no useful schooling at Nickel. He tries to be subservient to the staff so that he can earn points. He works hard in the field where the students are forced to plant and harvest crops. Elwood wonders if his beating in the White House had been extra severe specifically because he had requested more challenging classes. Elwood talks to other students to try to learn the best strategies for graduating as soon as possible, but he receives no helpful advice. Points and discipline in the school are apparently administered almost at random. As far as Elwood can tell, the only feasible course of actions is to be as docile and quiet as possible around staff members. Sometimes, groups of students are sent to places in the surrounding community to perform labor without pay. Elwood prefers this...