This is important because it explains Elwood's moral standing. He thinks about Martin Luther King's speech At Zion Hill and what he says acknowledging self worth and having a "sense of somebody-ness". He obtains his own sense of dignity and recognizes that he is worthy enough to stand up to all of the injustices he encounters. 

The narrator asks this question when talking about Turner to point out- what has become of his life? As he tried so hard to bury his past and live through Elwood. 19 years later after the fact, he is consumed with his history at Nickel and guilt regarding Elwood. He cannot get a hold of his intrusive thoughts, and is allowing it to take over his mental health. As a result he takes it out on undeserving people, ultimately living a miserable life. 

Turner tells this to Elwood to make him realize that not everyone is as lucky to have a family like he does. Boys at Nickel don't have a reason to be hopeful or that someone cares about them and will worry if they go missing. Elwood is naive to the world because he has always been sheltered by his grandmother.

This quote is important because it is pointing out that Elwood is not going to allow his visit to the White House, stop him from graduating Nickel. He is not going to stop fighting even if the Nickel staff makes it nearly impossible for him. This quote emphasizes Elwoods absolute great work ethic. Elwood has a mean determination to just do better. Grit is something you can't teach, you just have it or you don't .

In Elwood's youth, bettering his education and going to college were both important to him. Nickel had no true education system and used the boys for manual labor. This set Elwood very far back in his education level, which is why he had to get his GED as an adult. Nickel held had slowed him down, but Elwood was never going to give up. Elwoods hope would always out weigh his fears.

This is important because it shows how scared the boys are of Spencer. He uses his power in authority to make the students fearful of him so that they are easily controlled.

The narrator is basically saying that considering how well the Nickel Academy hides all of their abuse from the public and has been for so long, imagine how many more places there are like the Nickel Academy. Places that are corrupt and cruel that are being hidden from the public. 

This is Harriet's perception of the world that she has been conditioned to have. She is convinced that she is not equal to the "white man" because "that's just the way things are" and that is the way things have always been for Harriet and all black people, for as long as she's been alive. She feels inferior to the whole white race because Harriet grew up during a time, where black people were owned by white people and made into slaves. She lived in a society where no one was brave enough to speak out, or could speak out without getting killed. She is convinced that she will "pay" for "acting above her station". Everyone in her family had "paid" for acting "above their station", which has followed Harriet throughout her life making her fearful of ever opposing the racism she is faced with.

Elwood thinks back to Dr. King explaining to his daughter why she can't go to Fun Town but the white kids can. That it's not because she isn't good enough it's because of the segregation system created by the misguided thinking of white people. Even if not all white people think this way, there are enough who do think that way, that gives the segregation system force. This helps Elwood relate to him and even feel like he is a part of his family. Elwood takes this and applies it to help him remember that he is just as good as anyone.

This is an important quote because it shows how there was no sort of actual structure to anything the higher positions did at Nickel. They beat the kids as much and as badly as they wanted to, all because they had the power to do so. Elwood was trying to do a good thing by defending a smaller kid getting bullied, and because of that he is considered to be just as bad as the bullies and is going to receive the same punishment which is already very cruel.

This is an allegory because it is a clear representation of racism and corruption. The boys are used as violent entertainment and are bet on by supervisors and administrators, recreating the racist tradition of slave matches. The boxing match represents Nickel Academy continuing America's racist past and recreating it within its facility. 

This sentence is talking about the iron rings "out back" that are still there to the present day stuck in the trees, "testifying to anyone who will listen", the iron rings are not human and can't testify to anyone. 

Even though the state outlawed dark cells and sweat boxes in juvenile facilities, the rooms were still there whenever a supervisor felt that a boy needed to be sent there. The narrator is saying that racism and cruelty can be made a crime against the law, but as long as the "sons" of the racist people, and "the sons of those sons", have racism and evil in their hearts passed down to them, then the cruelty at places like Nickel will still continue. The law cannot change what lies within people's hearts and beliefs or the cruelty that happens.