Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Were you as impressed as we were by Francisco's penny collection? He takes good care of those little coins, and shows a lot of pride in them—so when Rorra trades his best two pennies for gumballs, it's a major bummer. It's an innocent mistake on her part—sometimes toddlers steal your stuff and spend it on candy—but since Francisco doesn't have a whole lot to call his own (his family doesn't even live in one place for very long), it's just that much more of a loss for our main man.
Okay, so the pennies are seriously important to Francisco. But the two pennies Rorra, er, borrows, are the cream of his crop. Francisco has a 1910 Lincoln Head penny that his dad passed down to him, and an 1865 Indian Head penny that his fifth-grade buddy, Carl, gave him. While it's cool from a coin collecting point of view that the pennies are super old—and therefore pretty rare—what makes them so special to Francisco is who gave them to him.
You see, Francisco really values the people who make a difference in his life—like his cool Papá—and when it comes to good friends, it's hard to make them when you're moving around every couple months, so finding a buddy like Carl is extra special.
So the pennies represent relationships and important connections for Francisco. And when it comes to his friendship with Carl, the penny isn't just a reminder of what the two boys had between them—it was key to their friendship forming in the first place. Check it out:
As we made our way up the San Luis Obispo grade, I placed the Lincoln Head penny back in the box and took out my 1865 Indian Head coin.
Carl had given it to me when I was in the fifth grade in Corcoran. He and I were good friends in school. And when we found out that we both collected coins, we became the best of friends. We made sure we got on each other's team when we played ball during recess, and we ate our lunch together every day. (11.17-18)
It sounds like if it weren't for pennies, Carl and Francisco might not have gotten as close. Did you notice how their shared interest in coins really amps up their friendship? Thanks to those pennies, now they're hanging out all the time. Their time together is short-lived, but at least Francisco has the penny to remember Carl by… until, of course, he doesn't anymore.