Hope is a coin I carry: an American penny, given to me by a man I came to love. There were times in my journey when it felt as if that penny and the hope it represented were the only things that kept me going.
-- Voice Unknown (Prologue)

Importance: This quote is the opening quote of the novel, and represents the significant symbol of the American penny and the theme of Bravery. The novel starts with the voice unknown, but in Chapter Thirty-Five the reader learns that this is, in fact, the start of Elsa’s speech to the strikers on the day she is shot, on page 431, at the climax of the novel. The novel also ends with this quote from Loreda in the Epilogue, only she changes it to “a woman I will always love,” representing the bond between mother and daughter and how Loreda now embodies Elsa’s hopes and dreams...