Naiveness

A common theme portrayed throughout The Nickel Boys is the naiveness that the central character, Elwood, is portrayed as. Elwood has high hopes for being accepted in Fun Town, which is a carnival for white kids. Elwood “got all A’s and kept his stack of evidence” for the guarantee of free admission into the town. His obliviousness to the clear racism that is happening right in front of him and the unfair treatment that he is receiving goes to show that even kids during the 1900s were faced with the harsh reality of segregation. Another example of racism was foreshadowed when Elwood received the encyclopedias he had been impatiently waiting for. When Elwood discovered that “the pages were blank- all of them”, he feels a sense of false hope and the reality starts to fit in. This scene foreshadows that Elwood does not have the same chance to get an education as other white students did. The blank pages in the encyclopedia that Elwood so eagerly waited for symbolize the future of his education, or in other words the non-existence of the education he wants to receive. Elwood’s naïve personality exemplifies that he is unaware of his surroundings and the cruel racism he encounters. 

The author perceives Elwood as this innocent character to try and give us readers a better view of children, or high-school students similar ages to ourselves, and their experience as well as emotions during the difficult times of racial segregation.