How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"I said, I don't have any more money. Or any gold. Or any food. I have a wife and a daughter and my boy, but I don't have any money." (11.18)
Einar tells Mr. Salisbury of his situation, and it's not the last time in the book he or his family are questioned about how much money they have. We see them with nothing in the flashbacks so that we can understand just how significant a lump of gold would be to them.
Quote #5
"He's a man who tests the gold. He sees how pure it is. The purer it is, the more it's worth. Every town needs an Assay Office, and this place is going to have one. And I'm going to be the man who does the testing and the weighing and the paying." (12.3)
Einar's job testing and paying out for gold is not a coincidence—it's the way he makes his fortune and gets his family out of the rut. Plus, it's directly dealing with exactly what Einar wants more than anything: gold.
Quote #6
At that, Anna and Sig had both paid attention. No one got presents. It simply didn't happen. They didn't have money for that kind of thing, but Einar had explained. (18.15)
The fact that the family doesn't even have enough money for presents tells just how poor they are, but it also shows us that you don't need money to be happy. Sig and Anna feel loved and happy without having much money at all.