The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (Section-wise Summary)

                                                                 

SECTION 1

 

The book unfolds on a black kid who is living with his grandmother, hanging out where she worked and doing odd jobs while immensely interested in reading comics, books or whatever he could find. A fanatic of the speeches of Martin Luther King he would listen to them repeatedly and dream of a time when he would be treated equally. He encounters several acts of injustice of which he cannot wrap his head around even at a younger age. Little does he know that injustice is to be a crucial part of his life in a few years.

 

We are given a sense of plot and mystery. Elwood seems to get arrested and we now don't know why? He is portrayed as a person with sound morals and a slightly different kid than the other kids in the area.

 

We can see the young Elwood emotionally evolving and learning about the movement of the 1960s. Starting off with his school life we a

re exposed to the education and emotional background of Elwood. He meets a life changing teacher Mr. Hills who even without his knowing inspires Elwood to participate in marches for the cause of equality. As luck would have it, given his talents he is offered a free college opportunity in a nearby college. He gets the blessing from both his grandmother and even Mr. Marconi where he works.

 

This section is keen on introducing mysteries to the reader so that we would search answers for throughout the book.

 

SECTION 2

 

Elwood's world of dreams crashes down as he is sentenced to Nickel Academy. We now have an answer as to the crime that he did not commit that results him in Nickel Academy. He who was going to go to college at the blink of the eye everything has changed.

 

The readers are taken through the layout and introduction of Nickel. So far the writer paints a picture of a place that seems to be good but we feel as if something is about to go wrong. And soon. We are introduced to the key characters in the story.

Turner and Desmond who are hopefully people who are on the lookout for Elwood. And also 3 other bullies who have been here for a long time and do not actually have any restrictions for their actions in their own morality. In addition to the other inmates the staff is also introduced. We learn of Mr. Blakely who was in charge of the dorm and Superintendent Spencer. We would learn more of these characters once the story unfolds.

 

Elwood being who he is always tries do what he thinks is right morally in any given situation and this is when we can see that he is probably going to get into trouble soon.  We are introduced to the far more horrendous aspects of the academy. Elwood learns the hard way together with some help from Turner and Desmond who had been there for some time that there is no difference in doing the right thing and Elwood once again has to pay repercussions for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Elwood has to spend time hospital for a few weeks. For a couple of days he is accompanied by Turner who came to the hospital after eating soap powder. He says he needed some time off and that it was better to be in the hospital on his own terms rather than in a way like Elwood. We can see that Turner is unlike the other guys at Nickel and the two develop a bond over time.

 

Elwood is defeated at the way things had taken place. All his life he had spent thinking if there was something wrong you must act to correct it. But suddenly, it was as if there was nothing wrong. There was nothing right. His actions did not matter. Thus we can see the transformations that are happening within Elwood. With the help of Turner, Elwood is able to secure a job in community service and now he and turner would go outside of the academy and assist Harper who is staff at Nickel. Harper seems to be one of the better guys in Nickel even though he is white.

 

We are then exposed to a much more gruesome event of Nickel Academy, the annual boxing championship between the white and the colored students. Turner gets to know that the match was fixed. The white student is supposed to win but Griff who is the colored student mixes up his calculations to result in his victory even though the match was fixed for him to lose. Griff is then taken out the back door. Taking out the back door is Nickel Academy's way of saying he would not live.

 

SECTION 3

 

We find ourselves five years later in time which puts Elwood in his late teens. He has finally escaped / graduated out of nickel academy. We do not know which. The author is successful in keeping the mystery of this fact from the reader. But we are exposed to a time after Nickel Academy and he still sees the world with utter chaos. He has moved on quite well it seems, with a job, education and girlfriend. Now we, the readers are in curiosity as to how Elwood got out of Nickel Academy.

 

It's almost like a flashback to the harder times where we find a subdued Elwood who has now been promoted to Explorer level. He had confirmed to the rulings of Nickel and it has taken a toll on him. The restrictions to his ways of thought keeps him up all night together with the thoughts that maybe his Grandmother won't be alive when he got out. As a result Elwood schemes of plans to get out of Nickel.

 

It is revealed that Elwood wasn't released. He escaped. Elwood with all his ideas of good deeds and his naïve trust for people decide to complain about the injustices carried out inside the academy to the inspectors who would be coming to Nickel. This idea is deeply scorned by Turner who seem to have a clearer idea on how the system works. However, due to an errand Elwood is unable to handover the letter he has written and therefore Turner volunteers to hand it over unwillingly.

 

Hoping for justice doesn't actually happen and Elwood finds himself in solitude in one of the darkest areas of the Nickel Academy. After a few days, Turner who learns that Elwood is to be killed the following day comes with a plan to run away together. However Elwood fails to escape. He is caught and shot.

 

The timeline in the story is mixed up deliberately so that the reader is kept on terms as to how Elwood's life turned out. We see Elwood in times of prosperity in the present world.

 

It is not until the epilogue we get the ability to tie the knots together of Elwood being shot and the life that Elwood seem to live after escaping Nickel Academy. It is Turner after all who is trying to honor the death of his mate with whom he tried to escape. Turner had lived on and in doing so he had honored the memory of Elwood.