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
As an adult in Manhattan, Elwood likes to watch the New York Marathon. He likes the spectacle’s camaraderie and hectic joy, remembering the silent nights he spent at Nickel, where a grave sense of isolation prevailed over the grounds despite the fact that all of the boys were facing the same horrors. At the New York Marathon, though, everyone happily cheers with each other and nobody is afraid to chant optimistic sentiments like, “You can do it.”
Elwood’s love for the New York Marathon stems from his desire for camaraderie and communal support. Whereas each boy was isolated and alone at Nickel, he experiences a sense of togetherness when he watches the marathon, feeling as if everyone is rooting for each other. It is exactly this kind of support he so desperately needed as a young man facing violence, abuse, and injustice, so it makes sense that he seeks this out as an adult.
Themes
Walking back from the New York Marathon, Elwood runs into Chickie Pete, who lived in his dorm at Nickel. As soon as Chickie Pete sees him and calls him over, Elwood can tell that his former classmate has been through tough times, since he seems like someone who recently got out of rehab. Hesitantly, he agrees to go for a beer with Chickie, so the two men duck into an old bar and talk about their time at Nickel without ever really addressing its horrors. Instead of speaking seriously about the abuse they endured, Chickie tells Elwood about other former Nickel students he’s run into over the years, eventually admitting that he has just spent a month getting sober, though this doesn’t stop him from quickly downing two beers.
Chickie and Elwood discuss their time at Nickel without ever addressing the most harrowing and defining moments of their shared history. This is a clear indicator that both men are still struggling to process what happened to them, since their desire to avoid talking about Spencer and his violent ways suggests that they still don’t know how to handle such traumatic memories. Even all these years later, then, their time at Nickel affects them in deep, painful ways.
Themes
Elwood remembers that Chickie Pete used to be a fantastic trumpet player, but Chickie says those days are behind him, holding up his knotted hands. This general story is all too familiar to Elwood, who has heard similar tales from other people who were forced to endure harsh treatment at such a young age. Since leaving Nickel, Chickie has been in the army, has worked odd jobs, and has found his way into trouble with the law. Most recently, he got into a bar fight that led to a court-ordered stint in rehab. When Chickie asks Elwood what he does for a living, Elwood is embarrassed to tell the truth, which is that he owns his own moving company and has a nice new office on Lenox Avenue.
The trajectory of Chickie Pete’s life illustrates just how hard it is to succeed after undergoing trauma. For years, boys like Chickie lived in fear at Nickel, becoming accustomed to routine violence and abuse. In turn, he now has trouble processing his painful past, a struggle that has most likely contributed to his battle with addiction. Thankfully, Elwood himself has managed to attain a bit of upward mobility, but this doesn’t mean he doesn’t also suffer from the same emotional setbacks as Chickie.
Themes
At one point, Chickie asks when Elwood left Nickel. “You don’t remember?” Elwood asks, but he stops himself from telling Chickie the truth, instead telling him that he was let out when his sentence was over. This is a lie Elwood has told time and again. In reality, he escaped Nickel. He has always loved the idea of students repeating the tale to each other over and over, letting the story of his triumph make its way through generations of boys. Now, though, he learns that nobody knows about his grand escape, since even Chickie Pete is unaware of how he left Nickel.
Whitehead reveals in this moment that Elwood escaped from Nickel Academy. This is something Elwood is clearly proud of, relishing the idea that his success story might have given other students hope as they tried to endure the institution and its abusive ways. Now, though, he learns that news of his escape never made it to his peers, a fact that aligns with Nickel’s tendency to shroud everything in secrecy. By keeping his escape story a secret, the school makes sure that other students continue to think of themselves as powerless. Again, secrecy leads only to further oppression, stifling the sense of unity that Elwood hoped his escape might create.
Themes
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“Hey, hey, what happened to that kid you used to hang around with all the time?” Chickie Pete asks. Elwood pretends he doesn’t know who Chickie is talking about, so Chickie gets up to go to the bathroom. While he’s gone, Elwood thinks about how most Nickel Boys could have accomplished many things if they hadn’t been through so much trauma. As his mind drifts, he thinks about his failed relationship with Denise, and as he does so, he sees an ambulance whip by outside. As its colors flash across the mirror behind the bar, Elwood sees himself haloed in a red light that distinguishes him as someone who doesn’t belong in the free world. Suddenly, he feels like everyone can see this light around him, thinking that he and all the other Nickel Boys will forever be running from their terrible pasts.
Elwood’s refusal to talk about Turner suggests that something bad may have happened to his friend, though Whitehead doesn’t reveal what took place. When Elwood unexpectedly feels like “an outsider” running from the police, the nature of his trauma comes to the forefront of the novel. Still struggling to overcome what happened to him at Nickel, he feels like he doesn’t belong in regular society, even though he’s been relatively successful. This illustrates just how thoroughly his time at Nickel transformed him, forever altering the way he moves through the world.
Themes
Elwood decides to leave when Chickie Pete returns from the bathroom, feeling suddenly angry that somebody like Chickie is still alive when his friend isn’t. Before he leaves, Chickie mentions that he’s looking for work, and Elwood half-heartedly promises to give him a call to hire him as a mover. On his way home, he thinks about how much he had liked the idea of his escape story circulating through Nickel. The fact that even Chickie doesn’t know this story depresses him. Ripping up the napkin upon which he wrote Chickie’s number, he makes his way back to his empty apartment.
Elwood’s decision to leave the bar is motivated by the fact that Chickie is still alive even though Elwood’s “friend” is not. This suggests that Turner is indeed dead, though Whitehead still doesn’t clarify what, exactly, happened. Nevertheless, it’s obvious that Elwood feels as if his friend’s death was deeply unfair. Worse, he has just learned that his own escape didn’t even do anything to inspire his fellow Nickel Boys, since it apparently never reached the student body. Once more, then, Nickel Academy triumphs over him through its secretive ways, getting the best of his anger and ruining his night even decades after he escaped.
Themes
