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Part Two
Chapters 4–6
Summary: Chapter 4
A judge sentences Elwood to a reform school called Nickel Academy, and Elwood is handcuffed and put in the back seat of a state vehicle. He’s taken to the school with two white boys, one of whom was arrested for truancy and the other who’s being punished for breaking a pharmacy window. The officer tells them that Elwood is a car thief. At first sight, Elwood thinks that Nickel looks more like a college campus than a prison—it even has a football field. Once inside the administration building, Superintendent Maynard Spencer, a large white man, gives the three boys a brief speech and touches his keychain threateningly.
When they get their uniforms, Elwood is directed to the worn-out clothing in the “colored” section. The white boys are sent downhill to their dormitory, and Elwood is brought by his housemaster, a Black man named Blakely, uphill to his dormitory, Cleveland. Blakely encourages Elwood to learn manual labor-related skills at Nickel that he can put to use when he is released back into society. Blakely tells Elwood that work will alternate with school, and Elwood tells Blakely that he hopes to get into advanced classes. Elwood is assigned to a bed in a room filled with rows of bunkbeds, and though he tries to reassure himself that most of the boys don’t look too rough and that Nickel is a school, not a prison, he still has to hide his tears. Before he falls asleep, he hears a loud, frightening, mechanical sound outside.
Summary: Chapter 5
Elwood meets several boys, including Turner, who will become his best friend at Nickel. Desmond, a boy from the next bunk, shows Elwood around. Desmond takes Elwood to his classroom, where he is shocked by the lack of instruction and outdated, elementary school materials. Elwood asks the teacher if he can be given more advanced materials. In the afternoon, Elwood is sent to join the grounds crew, where a teenager named Jaimie shows him around. As a result of his Mexican heritage, Jaimie is constantly shifted from campus to campus because the administration can’t decide if he is Black or white. The boys warn Elwood to stay away from a white building in the center of campus called the White House.
Later, Elwood explores the disgusting rec room in Cleveland dormitory. Desmond tells him the way to succeed at Nickel is to stay out of trouble, do what he’s told, and try to get out early by earning merits and climbing the ranks from Grub to Explorer to Pioneer to Ace. Elwood thinks of a speech from his Martin Luther King, Jr., record and vows to get out of Nickel quickly by earning merits. However, later that day in the bathroom he sees a small boy, Corey, being bullied by two boys from his breakfast table, Lonnie and Black Mike. Elwood steps forward to intervene and Black Mike punches him. A white houseman writes down all four boys’ names and says Mr. Spencer will handle the situation.
Summary: Chapter 6
That night at 1 a.m., Mr. Spencer and a white houseman named Earl take Elwood, Corey, Lonnie, and Black Mike from the dormitory to the White House, which the white boys call the Ice Cream Factory because of the multiple colors of the bruises they receive there. The boys are taken one by one into the front room and beaten mercilessly by Spencer with “Black Beauty,” a leather strap with a wood handle. The number of times each boy is whipped is random, and no one is asked what happened in the bathroom. Elwood is beaten so many times he loses consciousness. A large industrial fan, which makes the mechanical noise Elwood heard in his room the night before, drowns out the sound of the boy’s cries.
Analysis: Chapters 4–6
Elwood’s sentencing is just one example within the story of how the justice system is not fair or equal for people of color. Throughout the novel, the reader is reminded of the effects of mass incarceration on the lives of Black men. During the ride to Nickel Academy, Elwood finds himself unable to argue or defend himself when the officer tells the others that Elwood is a car thief. He has already accepted the consequences for a crime he didn’t commit. When Elwood arrives at Nickel Academy, a vestige of his innate optimism remains as it looks like a good school based on its well-manicured appearance. However, when he meets Superintendent Maynard Spencer, Elwood realizes that looks can be deceiving. The beauty of the campus ends when the students enter the building. The fact that Nickel Academy is still segregated hints that the school may operate outside the bounds of the law. Blakely encourages Elwood to learn skills related to manual labor, which again hints that Nickel Academy won’t provide much of an academic education. Even though Elwood sleeps in a room filled with bunkbeds, he is very much alone at Nickel Academy.
Elwood has a difficult time adjusting to his new surroundings and feels very isolated despite meeting Turner and Desmond. The outdated instruction materials shock him, but his conversation with the teacher about getting more advanced materials gives him reason to hope that Nickel won’t be so bad. That Jaimie, a Hispanic teenager, is forced to shift between the Black and white campuses demonstrates not only that that Nickel Academy believes it is important to adhere to their segregationist policies, but also that their policies are absurd and don’t have any real meaning. When Elwood receives a warning to stay away from the White House, this emphasizes the secrecy that goes on at Nickel. Nickel Academy makes no secret of maintaining segregation despite the fact that it has been outlawed, so the secrecy surrounding this building implies that something ominous occurs within its walls.
When Elwood learns that he could get out early by earning merits and climbing the ranks to Ace, this reinforces his belief that hard work and dedication serve as a means of advancement. Despite Elwood’s commitment to staying out of trouble, his sense of right and wrong takes priority when he sees Corey being bullied. Elwood continues to believe in doing the right thing, but he quickly learns that the staff at Nickel Academy will look for any excuse to punish the students, especially Black boys. The white houseman doesn’t care about the details of the situation, mirroring Elwood’s encounter with the police officer who didn’t care if Elwood had anything to do with the stolen car. To these authority figures, the truth is not important; they are more committed to punishment than justice.
The White House represents what is at the core of Nickel Academy—a culture of terror and violence. The secrecy surrounding the White House only adds to the terror of being taken there. The punishments carried out inside typically occur in the middle of the night, and the uncertainty of the situation makes it more unbearable. Fear and uncertainty are used by Nickel to maintain control over the students and keep them silent. The students know that they have no agency and no recourse for the abuse. They are completely at the mercy of Nickel. Any hopes that Elwood had for his time at Nickel evaporate when he endures his beating.
