Nickil Boys Essay

Words: 1020
Pages: 5
Open Document
Nickel Boy Academy is a reformatory school that has recently gained some attention because of its terrible disciplinary tactics. Colson Whitehead’s book The Nickel Boys portrays the school’s relentless pursuit of racial injustice, revealing how it shapes the lives of its characters and leaves a terrible impact on their journey toward justice and redemption. While the story ultimately portrays the progress of Elwood’s struggles, it also forces the reader to recognize the cost & suffering there is. Elwood, the main character in this novel, is a prime example of how to overcome these obstacles.

The injustices faced by colored youth, like Elwood, at the Nickel Academy, paint a clear picture of the systematic racism in Florida. Elwood’s statement …show more content…
When Turner takes on Elwood’s identity, the influence of their shared past at Nickel continues to shape their adult lives. Turner’s transformation reflects the struggle of the student’s traumatic experiences in the process of fighting injustice. As the new Elwood, Turner struggles with an identity crisis by stating, “You are you before you are anyone else.” This quote expresses the internal conflict the characters face, as they confront Nickel's terrible disciplinary tactics. This illustrates the school’s lasting impact of racial injustice on the character’s adult lives, showing the challenges they face in their journey for justice and self-discovery. Additionally, in “Elwood’s” interaction with Chickie Pete, it quotes, “Chickie Pete and his trumpet. He might have played professionally, why not? If things had been different. The boys could have been many things had they not been ruined by that place. Doctors who cure diseases or perform brain surgery, inventing shit that saves lives. Run for the president. All those lost geniuses—sure not all of them were geniuses, Chickie Pete for example was not solving special relativity—but they had been denied even the simple pleasure of being ordinary. Hobbled and handicapped before the race even began, never figuring out how to be normal” (Whitehead 131). This expresses the extreme measures the school went through to try and “help” troubled boys. Even as an
Show More

Related Documents: Nickil Boys Essay

The Nickil Boys Essay

with destructive behavior. In Colson Whitehead’s novel, The Nickel Boys, he portrays the harsh realities and injustices faced by the young boys at the Nickel Academy reform school. Through the story, he showed that harsh punishment could lead to psychological and physical trauma. As the plot unfolds, Whitehead ultimately demonstrates that such cruel and dehumanizing treatment was ineffective at reforming the students. In “The Nickel Boys”,…

Words 1339 - Pages 6