The Nickel Boys Essay In the novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, racism against black people is a constant topic that the author embraces. Throughout this essay, I will talk about how racism was a big part of this novel, how this influenced people’s mindset to think that white people were in control of black people or felt they had a certain power over them, and how this impacted the treatment they had over black people. The setting of this novel, which is the Nickel Academy, portrays these topics because this was the housemen’s behaviour towards the black boys. From my point of view, the part I found most racist was when Elwood Curtis was sent to this academy for a false accusation of stealing a car. It is also the fact that everything happened so quickly; the format the author used helps demonstrate …show more content…
Throughout this book, I sensed that the housemen thought they had this great power over the students. They constantly took advantage of them, and the boys were scared of what would happen if they refused or did not listen, so they just decided to accept the constant abuse they put them through. When Elwood got his first beating, it is described how Black Mike got fewer beatings than Elwood, even though Black Mike was the bully. I was expecting Elwood to get fewer beatings than all of the boys because he had stood up for Corey, to stop the fight. “...[T]he boy’s screams, but right next to it you heard the staff’s instructions perfectly: Hold on to the rail and don’t let go. Make a sound and you’ll get more” (Whitehead 69). I noticed how the quote has this sort of rhyme to it. It makes me picture in my head this image of Elwood getting beat up by these men, while both of them are telling Elwood this in some sort of playful way, almost like they are just playing with Elwood instead of abusing him. Like when you’re playing with someone and you say “Don’t move or I’ll keep tickling