"Papa tries to pay, he goes every day into the mountain, into the stone. It seals him in. Sealed in, the men from the company they tell Mamma the roof it fell, they are sorry. No survivors, too dangerous to try to bring the bodies out. The rich men here, they see nothing in the stone but money. "
This section of could essentially be seen as a brief summary or overview of the hardships that all the coal-miners had to face. It starts off with the financial woes that harass every family. Coal miners barely get paid enough by the corporations to scrape by and as a result, characters like Papa are forced to go to work every day in the mountains and the mine shafts. To give an idea of the poverty they live in; steel-toed boots are considered a luxury that could only be bought after months of saving up. The next part of the quote about how the place caved in accurately describes the dangers present in this line of work and the fact that there were no survivors attests to the brutality and horrific nature of coal-mining. Finally, the quote emphasizes the idea of greed. The owners of the coal mines are stripped of their humanity in their search for profits and don't even have the dignity to spend a little bit to uncover the bodies of the men killed in their coal mines.
"It is true that it is the men that goes in, but it is us that carries the mine inside. It is us that listens to what all they are scared of and takes the weight of it from them, like handing off a sack of meal. Us that learns by heart birthmarks, scars, bends of fingers, how the teeth set crooked or straight. Us that picks up the pieces."
This section describes the cruel after effects of the explosions and the devastating grief the wives have to deal with after the deaths of their husbands. One of the most powerful lines of this quote, arguably the most powerful, is the first one. It talks about how even though the men descend into the darkness of the coal mines, the real darkness is inside the wives. One thing they do is help ease the pain and the fears the men fear. They talk with their husbands and carry some of that suffering from the coal mines with them to help their husbands. Later, the quote talks about how the wives learn every distinctive part of their husband's body, in the tragic but not uncommon case that an explosion occurs and the bodies are charred and difficult to identify. Finally, the quote is significant because it addresses the aftermath the women have to deal with. They have to struggle through the hardships of survival with meager resources and care for their children, all while dealing with the sadness of their husbands' deaths.
"Then there he’d be, stomping coal dust off his boots on the porch, his face blacked and shiny, like it had soaked up the dark and give it back alive. He put me in mind of a raven, those times, and he was beautiful to my eyes."
This quote is from a poem about Nathan Stokes, a miner who is trapped inside the mountain after the entrance to the mine shaft caved in. With no help imminent and no hope for any help to arrive to clear the entrance, Stokes wanders aimlessly through the various tunnels that have been dug out inside the cave. The blackness of his face attests to the theme of darkness, both physically and metaphorically, that is present in the book. The coal surrounding him brings darkness to everything it touches, including himself. As he continues to wander deeper into the mountain he feels the mind of the raven. This raven is symbolic for the spirit of the mountain that is leading him further and further in to be consumed by the coal shafts that have consumed up the lives of countless other coal miners in their dangerous work. That is why this quote is significant, because it points out the extremely real dangers of coal mining as well as showcasing the effect it has on the miners and how it has destroyed their lives.
