The Nickel Boys

Elwood’s grandmother Harriet comes to visit him in Nickel, but the staff tell her that he is ill and cannot see visitors. Harriet is no stranger to death and loss. Her father, jailed for not stepping out of the way of a White woman, was found hanged in his cell; her husband was killed in a bar fight; and Elwood’s parents left town in the middle of the night without saying goodbye. Harriet’s mission now is to free Elwood from Nickel.

Elwood lies in the Nickel infirmary bed recovering from his injuries and dreaming about his release. The doctor has to pick pieces of his pant fabric out of his skin and wounds—it had become embedded there during the whipping. The sick White patients, Elwood notices, receive preferential treatment over the Black ones, though doctor’s remedy for all ailments is aspirin.

Reading a history of Nickel Academy, Elwood realizes its credo and its actual practice are two starkly different things. In operation for over 60 years, Nickel was founded as a place to reform young offenders and provide them with a moral compass and practical life skills. In reality, the boys’ free labor turns a profit for the institution, an incentive to keep them imprisoned rather than reforming and releasing them.