Previous
Jack Turner
Elwood’s grandmother is a kind and principled older woman who has served as Elwood’s primary caretaker ever since his parents (her daughter and son-in-law) left Florida in the middle of the night to live in California. Harriet works at the Richmond Hotel, where she cleans rooms while Elwood passes his time in the kitchen. A strict guardian, Harriet forbids Elwood from spending time with children she believes are not well behaved. When Elwood tells her that he wants to work at Mr. Marconi’s cigar store, she has no problem with the idea, especially since he gives her half of his paycheck every week. What’s more, she’s delighted to learn that he wants to save the other half of his paychecks so that he can go to college, something that makes her immensely proud. Accordingly, she’s quite excited when she learns that Mr. Hill has helped Elwood gain admission to Melvin Griggs Technical College. Unfortunately, though, she’s unable to do anything when Elwood is wrongly convicted of stealing a car and sent to Nickel Academy. And though her love and support sustains him on an emotional level even while he’s a student at Nickel, she finds it nearly impossible to help him, since a lawyer who promises to free him ends up taking all of Harriet’s money and leaving town. Harriet slowly succumbs to illness while Elwood is at Nickel and eventually dies one year after he is shot and killed.
Harriet (Elwood’s Grandmother) Quotes in The Nickel Boys
The The Nickel Boys quotes below are all either spoken by Harriet (Elwood’s Grandmother) or refer to Harriet (Elwood’s Grandmother). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter Two Quotes
The morning after the decision, the sun rose and everything looked the same. Elwood asked his grandmother when Negroes were going to start staying at the Richmond, and she said it’s one thing to tell someone to do what’s right and another thing for them to do it. She listed some of his behavior as proof and Elwood nodded: Maybe so. Sooner or later, though, the door would swing wide to reveal a brown face—a dapper businessman in Tallahassee for business or a fancy lady in town to see the sights—enjoying the fine-smelling fare the cooks put out. He was sure of it.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seven Quotes
“It’s not like the old days,” Elwood said. “We can stand up for ourselves.”
“That shit barely works out there—what do you think it’s going to do in here?”
“You say that because there’s no one else out there sticking up for you.”
“That’s true,” Turner said. “That doesn’t mean I can’t see how it works. Maybe I see things more clearly because of it. […] The key to in here is the same as surviving out there—you got to see how people act, and then you got to figure out how to get around them like an obstacle course. If you want to walk out of here.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Nickel Boys LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Harriet (Elwood’s Grandmother) Character Timeline in The Nickel Boys
The timeline below shows where the character Harriet (Elwood’s Grandmother) appears in The Nickel Boys. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter One
...speaking at Zion Hill Baptist Church. He isn’t allowed to listen to Motown, since his grandmother—with whom he lives in Tallahasee—believes such music is inappropriate. Accordingly, he covets this record as...
(full context)
Elwood’s grandmother works at the Richmond Hotel, where Elwood spends his time when he’s not in school....
(full context)
...they all knew the books were blank. From that point on, he stops accompanying his grandmother to work. In the following years, he wonders if the busboys were simply trying to...
(full context)
Chapter Two
...never saw a black person sitting in the Richmond dining room. Addressing this fact, his grandmother tells him that the world isn’t going to immediately change, explaining that telling people to...
(full context)
After he stops going to the Richmond with his grandmother, Elwood gets a job at Mr. Marconi’s cigar shop. Mr. Marconi is a white Italian...
(full context)
Elwood’s grandmother doesn’t mind the idea of Elwood working with Mr. Marconi , since he seems like...
(full context)
...and he even used to play with them when he was a boy, before his grandmother decided that they’re too badly behaved for her grandson. When they hear him tell them...
(full context)
Chapter Three
Elwood thinks that his grandmother will be proud of him, especially since she herself participated in the Frenchtown bus boycott...
(full context)
Defying his grandmother’s orders, Elwood asks Mr. Marconi for the day off. Without hesitation, Marconi gives him the...
(full context)
A friend of Elwood’s grandmother sees Elwood at the protest outside the Florida Theatre and relays the message. Three days...
(full context)
Chapter Seven
When Elwood’s grandmother, Harriet, comes to visit him shortly after his beating in the White House, the staff...
(full context)
...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...
(full context)
Chapter Eight
...that he can save up enough money to go to college, since he and his grandmother spent all of his savings on hiring a lawyer. This is not an ideal situation,...
(full context)
Chapter Twelve
...is yet another way to get out of Nickel. He thinks of it after his grandmother comes to see him shortly after New Year’s. He has spent his time obediently following...
(full context)
Harriet delivers bad news about Elwood’s prospects of getting out of Nickel. The lawyer she hired,...
(full context)
Epilogue
...students as quickly as possible to avoid official investigations. He has also learned that Elwood’s grandmother died just one year after her grandson, and though Elwood’s mother is presumably still alive...
(full context)
