The Social Hierarchy In Part I Of Nickel Boys By Elwood Curtiss?

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In Part I of The Nickel Boys, Elwood Curtis is under the rule of the social hierarchy and doesn’t know how to stand up for himself, but finds a spark of advocacy. When Elwood goes to his history class, the other students and him look at all the demeaning slurs in the book, “but as the school year went on, the students of Lincoln High School stopped noticing the curses… Why hadn’t anyone told them to do this before” (Whitehead 29). Although the clear social status was brought on by Mr. Hill, Elwood illustrated just how hurtful the social hierarchy can be. It hurt at first, however over time the terms became so prevalent that they were meaningless. Feeling defeated by the words, the students loosed a part of themselves. When they were able to