Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Nickel Boys, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma and Repression
Unity, Support, and Hope
History, Secrecy, and Racism
Civil Rights, Dignity, and Sacrifice
Power, Fear, and Upward Mobility
Summary
Analysis
When Elwood’s grandmother, Harriet, comes to visit him shortly after his beating in the White House, the staff members tell her that he’s sick. Worried, she asks what he’s come down with, but the staffer rebukes her for asking. Harriet, for her part, is used to being separated from her loved ones, since her father died in jail and her husband was killed while trying to break up a barfight. Parting ways with Elwood, though, was the hardest farewell she’s ever had. Because of this, she and Mr. Marconi have been working hard to bring justice to his case, hiring a white lawyer who is young, kind, and optimistic about the chances of appealing Elwood’s sentence.
Harriet is no stranger to injustice, considering that she has lost multiple loved ones in untimely ways. Unlike Elwood, though, she is less optimistic about the future, though the mere fact that she hires a lawyer to continue fighting on Elwood’s behalf suggests that she hasn’t given up all hope of overturning his sentence.
Themes
Meanwhile, Elwood passes the time in the school’s infirmary after his beating. He lies on his stomach and takes note of the infirmary’s various patterns, though the ward is almost always empty. There was another boy there on Elwood’s first day in the infirmary, but Elwood was too preoccupied by his wounds, enduring the pain as Dr. Cooke carefully picked the fabric of his pants out of his legs, since the material had become lodged in his skin. Eventually, though, he gains company when Turner intentionally eats soap so that he can have a little break from his everyday life at Nickel. In the infirmary, he jokes with Elwood about the fact that Dr. Cooke hardly does anything to treat his patients, saying that the doctor’s only method of care is to give people aspirin, regardless of the severity of their injuries.
By this point, it is clear that Nickel Academy is a dangerous institution, the kind of place where a superintendent can get away with whipping students so hard that their clothing fuses to their skin. In the face of this cruelty, Elwood finds no solace other than Turner’s company, which at least helps take his mind off the pain in his legs. In this way, then, companionship and camaraderie distract him from his woes and help him move on from his first beating, hinting at how important this friendship will become as the novel goes on.
Themes
When Elwood isn’t talking to Turner, he studies the school newspaper, The Gator. The small paper explains the history of Nickel Academy. He learns that the school puts students to work in order to reform them, though the institution also makes money off of the boys’ labor, sometimes making as much as $250,000 from the school’s printing press. In addition, Nickel operates a brick-making machine, with which the students produce 20,000 bricks every day—bricks that Nickel sells throughout the county.
As if it isn’t bad enough that the staff members of Nickel Academy abuse the students, Elwood learns in this moment that the institution actually profits from their forced labor. Considering the country’s embattled racial history, it’s worth noting that this kind of system is unnervingly reminiscent of slavery or—at the very least—indentured servitude, though it’s true that the white students also have to work. Still, the entire structure’s dependence on child labor suggests that nobody at Nickel has any problem exploiting the students and prospering while they toil away under miserable, violent conditions.
Themes
In the infirmary one day, Elwood asks Turner if beatings in the White House are always so brutal. Turner says that most people receive beatings as harsh as Elwood did, though he admits that he’s never been taken to the White House himself. At this point, Elwood insists that his lawyer can advocate for him and his fellow students, but Turner disregards this, telling his friend that he’s already lucky enough as it is. When Elwood asks how, exactly, he’s lucky, Turner explains that sometimes students disappear after Spencer and Earl take them to the White House. When family members ask what happened to these unlucky students, the school claims that the boys ran away.
When Elwood tells Turner that he has a lawyer, he reveals his optimistic belief that he might be able to speak up against Nickel’s corruption and injustice. Turner, on the other hand, thinks this is impossible, suggesting that taking a stand against Nickel would only invite even more dangerous fates. To illustrate this point, he tells Elwood that Spencer and Earl sometimes kill students. The fact that they can get away with this by simply saying that a student has escaped once again illustrates the extent to which Nickel Academy makes and goes by its own rules, never having to take responsibility for its grave misdeeds.
Themes
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In a low voice, Turner tells Elwood that he was wrong to interfere with what Lonnie and Black Mike were doing to Corey, claiming that Corey likes the abuse. “They play rough, then he takes them into the stall or whatever and gets on his knees,” he says. When Elwood expresses his disbelief, saying that Corey looked genuinely frightened before he intervened, Turner discredits this idea, insisting that Elwood doesn’t know what people like or dislike. Thinking this way, he tells Elwood that Nickel is the same as the external world, except that nobody has to pretend to be something they’re not at Nickel.
Whether or not it’s true that Corey actively likes it when Lonnie and Black Mike beat him up—or that he gives them oral sex after their stand-offs—Turner’s point is an important one, since it outlines his belief that it’s best to stay out of other people’s business at Nickel. Rather than interfering when something seems immoral or wrong, he encourages Elwood to recognize that he will undoubtedly encounter more ugly things while at Nickel, since nobody has to hide their wretched desires in this harsh environment.
Themes
Turning his attention to the fact that it’s unlawful for Spencer and the other staffers to beat the students, Elwood insists that he and his fellow students can stand up for themselves. However, Turner claims that activism hardly works in the free world, let alone at Nickel. Hearing this, Elwood suggests that Turner only believes this because he doesn’t have anybody outside of Nickel to support him, and Turner admits that this is true. Still, though, Turner points out that this doesn’t keep him from seeing reality, insisting that Elwood should learn to survive Nickel by imitating everyone else, since the school itself is like an “obstacle course.” Going on, he emphasizes the fact that Elwood is the only person responsible for getting himself out.
In this conversation, Turner presents himself as a staunch individualist, claiming that it’s best to stick to oneself while at Nickel Academy. While Elwood believes that he and his peers ought to stand up for themselves in the face of adversity, Turner maintains that this will only lead to trouble. When Elwood suggests that Turner only thinks this because he doesn’t have anybody supporting him, Turner agrees. Through this conversation, Whitehead implies that people are more likely to give up hope when they feel isolated and alone. Accordingly, Turner commits himself to the idea that each student ought to concentrate on his own problems rather than trying to band together with his peers to address the school’s injustice.
Themes
Elwood tries to take Turner’s advice to heart. Five days later, he finally leaves the infirmary, feeling like he’s been fully inducted into Nickel Academy. Shortly thereafter, his grandmother comes to visit, and though he wants to tell her what happened, he simply says that he’s unhappy but making it through nonetheless.
Elwood’s decision to hide the story of his abuse from his grandmother suggests that he has opted to not dwell on the injustice of his beating. Instead, he decides to follow Turner’s advice, effectively keeping to himself and trying to follow the rules without thinking about taking a stand against Nickel Academy. This, it seems, is exactly the mindset people like Spencer want him to adopt, since it keeps outside parties like Elwood’s grandmother from finding out what’s going on and perhaps intervening.
Themes
