In the novel Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead employs scenes of violence through boxing and through punishments in order to convey the superintendents racism towards the black students side of the reform school, ultimately illustrating, no matter how hard one tries, they may never be good enough just because of the color of their skin. 

Whitehead initially uses a scene of violence in boxing in order to demonstrate the superintendent's racism towards the black students in his school. For example, the Nickel Academy hosts an annual boxing match, white vs. black, in order to prove who is the strongest race. The black boxer had an awful education and did not even know how to count. The superintendent told the black student to go down or lose in one of the rounds of the boxing match because he had bet against him. The student knew to do what he was told because of the punishments if he did not. During the fight the black boxer was winning the fight and without knowing how to count the rounds he was on ended up winning the fight thinking it was not the final round. After he knew he had won, the student was scared for his life and was begging for forgiveness. Just after the fight he left with the superintendent and was not seen again, and the student ended up being killed by the superintendent and the faculty for winning the fight. Because he was the bigger boxer and knew he was going to win, it made the superintendent make him try to lose. Consequently the black student did not know how to count due to the reform schools poor education. Therefore, it was not the students fault that he won and he should have been proud to win, but the superintendent wanted to make sure he was not good enough and that caused him to have wanted to lose and ultimately cost the black student his life.  This did not only affect the black student, but also the other black students that were in the reform school. After the fight had happened the rest of the black students were told that he escaped, but they knew he didn't and that something happened to him because he was last seen with the superintendent and he was not smart enough to escape on his own. Because he had gone missing the black students felt scared and intimidated by the superintendent. Since they feel this way they feel as though they must stay in line and not try to push the limits because he may make them go missing also. Thus, they feel as though they may never be good enough for the superintendent, and if they even do one simple thing wrong they know they may go missing too. 

Not only does Whitehead use scenes of violence in boxing, but in punishments too. White employs scenes of violence by punishment in order to demonstrate the superintendent's racism towards the black students of Nickel Academy. While there was an inspector at the Nickel Academy, Elwood, the main character of the book, gives a note to the inspector that told him that the black students were getting beaten. Elwood hoped that they would help to stop the beating and racism in the school, but when the superintendent found out he sent Elwood to the secret house they beat their black students in. He was beaten with a leather belt until he fainted and when he woke up he was in the hospital with cuts and big bruising. Because he was tired of the inequality and wanted the pain of racism to stop he felt hope giving the note to the inspector. Consequently his hope for changing things cost him a world of pain and he had lost hope afterwards. Therefore, The superintendent's racism did not stop and made sure that Elwood knew that his eyes were now set on him making the gap to equality feel even further. This did not only affect Elwood as Turner and many other friends and black students saw what had happened to him. As Elwood was recovering people saw him and word spread of how badly he was beaten for what he did. Because many people saw and word got out it put fear in the students eyes thinking they were going to get beat as he did. Since they saw hope bad it was they knew the superintendent would never change his ways and continue to pick on and hurt the black students. Thus, no matter how hard anyone tries to approach equality they will continue to get set back and become intimidated by what happens to others. 

In the Novel The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead uses scenes of violence as boxing and as a punishment to show the gap between equality or the superintendents racism to the black students at the school ultimately illustrating, due to the color of one's skin, they must try harder and will still never be good enough because of the skin color. 

In the novel The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead employs an underground railroad and the valentine home in Indiana in order to convey a symbol of freedom and hope ultimately illustrating the battle for freedom while risking one's life in the process is worth the risk.

Whitehead initially uses an underground railroad in order to demonstrate a symbol of freedom. For example, Caesar asks Cora to escape before a slave dinner because the white people would be off guard and they would be able to leave easier. Cora initially says no to this big task because she does not want to risk her own life. Then the nicer brother on the randal farm dies and leaves terrance, the mean brother, to task the slaves and ensure their jobs are getting done. Cora finally takes Caesar up on the offer to escape and they find an actual underground system of railroads. This gives them hope to finally find a way out of the Randall farm and north to freedom. Also, one day Terrance finds a slave that tries to escape and he kills him in the span of three awful days of beatings. Because Cora and Caesar know that this is life or death they are scared that they will be found and killed while leaving. Consequently, they find the underground railroad system which gives them hope that they will be able to make it. Therefore, the introduction to the underground railroad system allows for Cora and Caesar to get to freedom and be able to escape from the locks they had while being slaves. To continue, the underground railroad system acted as a symbol of hope with freedom. For example, Cora declined Caesar's request to leave before because she did not want to be killed and die. Because she was worried about dying she was basically saying that she was hopeless. Since, she was hopeless when she had left she was accepting the possibility of death and that it was better than being a slave on the Randall farm. Thus, when the underground railroad system appeared she becomes much more hopeful in the face of the possibility of death because of the new path system that she and Caesar would be taking to get from house to house. 

Not only did the underground railroad system show freedom and hope, but the home that Cora had found in Valentine Indiana did as well. Moreover, Whitehead uses Valentine Indiana's town and home as a symbol of freedom and hope. Cora had to face a lot of dangers going from Georgia to North Carolina to Indiana and witnessed a lot of bad things and hardships along the way. So when she finally got to Valentine Indiana which was a community of black people in a non slave state she felt at home and even got a stable food source and started learning how to read which would have been impossible as a slave on the farms. Because Cora had faced so much hardships and adversity before making it to the new home she felt as if she were finally at home. Consequently, she had started to find living there good and make her feel finally free. Therefore, finding this town and home that they involved her in made her feel the freedom as much as she could while she stayed in this town. The home in Indiana did not only symbolize freedom but as hope too. For example, Cora was trying to find anywhere she can go to be free. She had to live in a very small confining area for a long time because the people in the area would kill her if not. Then she had to live in a home where they were trying to make her become infertile so they could stop the growth of the black population. Then she found this place, a nice black community in Indiana. Because everyone was also black and free living in their own community she felt hope that she would be able to live there too. Since, she started to live to her best, going to school and getting a stable source of food. Thus, the new home and town of Valentine Indiana gave her hope of finally escaping to an awful life of running from the slave catchers and making it to the north able to live a new life. 

Both the underground railroad system and the new home of Valentine Indiana were both strong symbols of freedom and hope in the form of houses in the book The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. If not for the underground railroad system and the house in Valentine Indiana Cora possible wouldn't have even been able to escape let alone have the hope of living a normal life outside of living as a slave. This shows the battle for freedom is worth the risk in order to get out of a bad situation because of the hardships she had overcome in order to get away from the slave catchers and if her way to a good community even though she had to keep running after finding it.