Colson Whitehead

Sure. You know, one of the great things about research is that you make a decision and it starts paying off. And in terms of having Elwood be an acolyte of the civil rights movement is that I had to pick speeches and different episodes that would inspire him.

And so I had to go back to Martin Luther King's speeches and figure out which ones would fit Elwood, which ones would fit this part of the book. Yeah. Once Elwood is tested at the Nickel Academy, he has to really live up to all these things he's believed. He's heard Martin Luther King talk about loving the oppressor.

And so I had to go back to Martin Luther King's speeches and figure out which ones would fit Elwood, which ones would fit this part of the book. Yeah. Once Elwood is tested at the Nickel Academy, he has to really live up to all these things he's believed. He's heard Martin Luther King talk about loving the oppressor.

And so I had to go back to Martin Luther King's speeches and figure out which ones would fit Elwood, which ones would fit this part of the book. Yeah. Once Elwood is tested at the Nickel Academy, he has to really live up to all these things he's believed. He's heard Martin Luther King talk about loving the oppressor.

He's talking about suffering and rising above it and loving in the face of impossible odds. And it's really once he gets to Nicol that Elwood has to think, can I do this? I mean, it's sort of ridiculous, but it's sort of what we have to do. And his real sort of struggle, the longer he spends at Nicol, is having to finally put into concrete practice what he's been reading about.

He's talking about suffering and rising above it and loving in the face of impossible odds. And it's really once he gets to Nicol that Elwood has to think, can I do this? I mean, it's sort of ridiculous, but it's sort of what we have to do. And his real sort of struggle, the longer he spends at Nicol, is having to finally put into concrete practice what he's been reading about.

He's talking about suffering and rising above it and loving in the face of impossible odds. And it's really once he gets to Nicol that Elwood has to think, can I do this? I mean, it's sort of ridiculous, but it's sort of what we have to do. And his real sort of struggle, the longer he spends at Nicol, is having to finally put into concrete practice what he's been reading about.

And perhaps he never imagined he'd have to prove himself so thoroughly as he does at Nicol.

And perhaps he never imagined he'd have to prove himself so thoroughly as he does at Nicol.

And perhaps he never imagined he'd have to prove himself so thoroughly as he does at Nicol.

Yeah, I mean, the majority of the book takes place in 63 and 64 and then we follow Elwood as he grows up and gets out of the Nickel Academy and moves to New York. And we see him in the 70s and we see him in the 80s. the early part of this century. And so we see what sort of makes him as a man, and then we see the after effects of it.

Yeah, I mean, the majority of the book takes place in 63 and 64 and then we follow Elwood as he grows up and gets out of the Nickel Academy and moves to New York. And we see him in the 70s and we see him in the 80s. the early part of this century. And so we see what sort of makes him as a man, and then we see the after effects of it.

Yeah, I mean, the majority of the book takes place in 63 and 64 and then we follow Elwood as he grows up and gets out of the Nickel Academy and moves to New York. And we see him in the 70s and we see him in the 80s. the early part of this century. And so we see what sort of makes him as a man, and then we see the after effects of it.

How do you come back from something as traumatic as being a nickel? Who makes a whole life decades later? And who is perpetually victimized by their time there? Do you become addicted to drugs, an alcoholic. Can you find someone to love, make a family, keep a job?

How do you come back from something as traumatic as being a nickel? Who makes a whole life decades later? And who is perpetually victimized by their time there? Do you become addicted to drugs, an alcoholic. Can you find someone to love, make a family, keep a job?

How do you come back from something as traumatic as being a nickel? Who makes a whole life decades later? And who is perpetually victimized by their time there? Do you become addicted to drugs, an alcoholic. Can you find someone to love, make a family, keep a job?

It's a few months out of his life, Elwood's young life, and then he has to spend the next couple of decades finding his way in the world. And I think whether you were in a place like Dozier, if you had a family catastrophe early on, any sort of disaster you bounce back from, you reckon with it. It changes you and changes your world.

It's a few months out of his life, Elwood's young life, and then he has to spend the next couple of decades finding his way in the world. And I think whether you were in a place like Dozier, if you had a family catastrophe early on, any sort of disaster you bounce back from, you reckon with it. It changes you and changes your world.

It's a few months out of his life, Elwood's young life, and then he has to spend the next couple of decades finding his way in the world. And I think whether you were in a place like Dozier, if you had a family catastrophe early on, any sort of disaster you bounce back from, you reckon with it. It changes you and changes your world.

And so that's where we find Elwood in his later chapters is a man trying to find himself after this very formative few months.