The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) characters

Appears from the start

A studious Black teenager in 1960s Tallahassee, raised by his grandmother and inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. He believes that discipline, education, and moral courage can overcome injustice. A ride in a stolen car, taken without his knowledge, sends him to Nickel Academy before he can begin college classes.

Appears from the start

Elwood's grandmother and guardian, who has worked hard to give him a secure upbringing. Her caution comes from experience, and she fears the dangers that his idealism cannot prevent.

First appears in chapter 2

A teacher who recognizes Elwood's intelligence and encourages him to think seriously about history and civil rights. He helps open a route for Elwood to take advanced classes.

First appears in chapter 5

A Nickel student whose practical cynicism contrasts with Elwood's faith in justice. Alert to the institution's unwritten rules, he becomes Elwood's closest friend and tries to teach him how to survive without attracting the staff's attention.

First appears in chapter 4

The superintendent of Nickel Academy. He presents the school as orderly and corrective while presiding over a system in which staff violence and exploitation are routine.

First appears in chapter 4

A Nickel employee who supervises Elwood's dormitory. He explains the school's merit system and daily rules, acting as one of the ordinary functionaries of its unequal regime.

First appears in chapter 7

An older white staff member who drives selected Black students to labor assignments outside Nickel. His comparatively easy manner does not remove his place in a system that profits from their unpaid work.

First appears in chapter 8

A powerful student boxer whom Nickel's administrators expect to preserve the school's reputation in its annual match against a white reform school. The pressure placed on him makes the supposedly sporting contest another instrument of control.

First appears in chapter 6

A Mexican American boy at Nickel who moves between the institution's rigid racial groupings. He is one of the students Elwood comes to know amid the school's shifting alliances and dangers.

First appears in chapter 10

A former Nickel student whom Elwood encounters after the man has returned to the school as an adult. His damaged life shows how the institution continues to shape boys long after their release.

First appears in chapter 14

The woman who shares a life and a small business with the adult Elwood in New York. She knows that Nickel scarred his youth, though he has kept much of that history private.