The Nickel Boys, A Novel, written by Colson Whitehead is my monthly read. If you have been following any of my previous blogs you know I am a fan of this author. Many of his novels grace my book shelf.
Before I morph into reflective thoughts Colson’s story has inspired for me, I want to share two excerpts from The Nickel Boys.
Elwood and his grandmother had no television. But Elwood had a prized vinyl record of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. titled At Zion Hill. On page 26, Elwood shares a passage of Dr. Kings words from that speech.
We must believe in our souls that we are somebody, that we are significant, that we are worthful, and we must walk the streets of life every day with the sense of somebody-ness. Whitehead writes that Elwood bent to a code-Dr. King gave the code shape, articulation and meaning.
On page 42 the following excerpt is found.
Elwood picked up while hitchhiking, by a man named Rodney driving a brilliant green ’61 Plymouth Fury. Rodney had a sprawling but solid physique, like a Negro version of Edward G. Robinson. After driving a while, the red light of a prowl car spun in the rear view mirror.
The white deputy parked a few yards behind them. He put his left hand on his holster and walked up. He took off his sunglasses and put them in his chest pocket.
Rodney said, “You don’t know me, do you?”
“No” Elwood said.
I’ll tell him that.”
The deputy had his gun out now. “First thing I thought when they said to keep an eye out for a Plymouth,” he said.
“Only a nigger’d steal that.”
Elwood is a complex character. He is the product of a broken family as his parents pretty much up and left him while he was only a youngster. Fortunately his grandmother takes him into her home and raises him. Elwood’s love of learning and his moral sense is nurtured by her.
Despite Elwood’s station in early life, a station surrounded by du jure segregation and blatant racism, he began to rise above that as he grew into his teenage years. Elwood’s curiosity, educational appetite, and work ethic blossomed during his high school years.
The second excerpt I shared above, opened a door for Elwood and the stale, foul air of personal and institutional racism began to assault him.
Elwood was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he inadvertently climbed into a stolen car being driven by the car thief. The Florida public perceived the Nickel Technical School as an institution of learning and reform for wayward boys under the age of eighteen. Mr. Whitehead weaves a story that focuses on the underbelly of the school. This institution is run by so called teachers, guards and administrators who are psychotic pedophiles at the best, evil racist abusers and murderers at the worst.
Elwood meets a teenage boy named Turner during his early days at the school. These two are the Nickel Boys. The author displays genius in revealing layers and layers of character sculpture with Elwood and Turner throughout his novel.
It is not my intention in this post to reveal minutia details or spoil Colson Whitehead’s genius for developing a narrative that has some surprising twists and turns. No spoiler alert needed here.
I am also not going to dwell on the pure evil of fear, racism and bigotry. No, our society is too riddled with the results of de jure segregation and de facto segregation. Whitehead’s focus is on a reform school that is fictional as are his characters. It is based on a real school that existed in Florida. Sadly that is not surprising. We have seen too much institutional abuse in our churches, in our health care institutions and in our schools.
I do want to take a moment to share here the immortality of character’s in literature written by authors such as Colson Whitehead. It is one thing to create a multi-dimensional neighborhood of a story. It is quite another to give birth to immortal characters that live in that story’s neighborhood. My love for reading started at the young age of six when my grandmother introduced me to the wonder of Thornton W. Burgess story books. Immortal characters such as Granny Fox, Lightfoot the Deer, Peter Cottontail and Sammy Jay, to mention a few, introduced themselves to me.
As a young father I fell in love with the genius of Dr. Seuss’s characters as I read to my young children. Immortals such as The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch, Horton the Elephant, and Sam-I-Am introduced themselves to me and my children.
In high school and college I began a life long love affair with Charles Dickens and his characters that populated his stories in England and Europe during the 1800’s. His fertile imagination gave birth to hundreds of bigger than life characters such as Scrooge, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and of course the three ghosts of Christmas!
Am I being too gratuitous to list Colson Whitehead with these other great authors? Not at all. I could go on and on and list the character’s of Ayn Rand, Joseph Heller, Hemingway and Ann Rice. Emily Dickinson’s poem #1286, There is no Frigate like a Book captures the magic of a good book. But Emily, with all due respect, it is fantastic to have the company of so many great fictional characters that have born my soul during my journeys in so many well built frigates!
Another point before I end this year of 2022 and this final blog. I believe that language both written and verbal is very linear and a less than wholesome way to communicate. Having said that, I love to read a book and learn a new word. The new word for me in The Nickel Boys was palimpsest. The definition I found was as follows; An object or a place where older layers or aspects are apparent beneath it.
This word is found on page 90 and it is in the context of this written sentence; –porky red-neck over whose apron was a palimpsest of dark stains. Now Mr. Whitehead if you ever have a moment to read this, I believe that word means more to your novel than your one use of palimpsest on page 90. I repeated that word and its definition as a mantra while reading your book. As your story unfolded each page of narrative uncovered older layers beneath the institutions and the characters. Is that word used only as a metaphor for all the stains on that red-necks apron and nothing else? Let me know.
As this year ends, I watch the tide go out from around my lighthouse. The new year resolutions will be focused on peace, equality, stability of cultures and love of each other, our neighbors, our family, our friends. This past year, ending tonight, showed very little love for humanity! That has to change or the problems of a fourth turning could manifest again.
Be in peace and joy!
Thank you for reading.
Mark