How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Then she would have laughed. Of course she would have laughed, for she was always laughing, unless she was singing. Unless she was singing, or fighting with Nadya. (2.6)
Even though Nadya and Anna bicker sometimes, they seem to care about what's important: family. We see what the house was like before Einar died, and it seems like a place filled with warm memories and happy songs for Sig.
Quote #2
Sig loved sitting in the warm water, knees tucked under his chin, watching the snow fall through the end window of the cabin if it were winter, or the shadows moving in the pines if it were summer. What he loved most of all though, was the time spent with his father after the bath, as Nadya and Anna prepared supper. (2.23)
It's clear Sig cherishes the time he gets to spend with his dad, talking and sharing about their lives. Later, Sig wonders whether this time was all a façade—you know, since his dad was stealing from people—but we think that both guys seem to genuinely care about the time together.
Quote #3
There were enough years between them that they'd never been rivals, only friends, and until Nadya had come along, Anna had been Sig's mother as well as his sister. These days he felt as if he had two mothers. (3.1)
Or, make that three, since Sig is looked after by Maria, Anna, and Nadya in turn, and he loves each of them very much. We get a lot of backstory about his family to show us what a tight-knit group they are, despite Einar's shenanigans and Wolff showing up.
Quote #4
The Esquimaux called it ivu, "the ice that leaps ," but Einar took it as another strange omen of the desolate world to which he had foolishly brought his family. (9.2)
Einar second-guesses his decision to take his family to the arctic because of the freezing temps, the violence, and the lack of gold, yet they do seem to find happiness there in their own way. We just wonder if everyone would have survived if they never trekked to Alaska in the first place.
Quote #5
He could remember his mother barely at all, not even her face, and they hadn't had any photographs made that might now stimulate a recollection—of her gentle eyes perhaps, or the long, dark, wavy hair that Anna had inherited. No, nothing like that, but he could remember her as a feeling, a soft and warm feeling, making him safe and happy. (17.6)
Check out how he describes his mom here. It's not important that he doesn't remember much about her, because what he does remember makes him all warm and fuzzy inside.
Quote #6
His friends left, and Einar hurried the other way up the street, heading for home, while his friends congratulated Einar on having such a beautiful wife, even if she did quote the Bible too often for their comfort. (22.42)
We're told a couple different times that Einar and his fam are unusual in that the whole family moved to Alaska. Most of Einar's buddies didn't bring a wife and kids along for the journey, which makes the Anderssons stick together all the more.
Quote #7
The Bible felt like the last link to his parents. It had been his mother's pride, that beautiful black leather-bound book. (33.44)
Sig wants to keep his mom's Bible not necessarily for the information inside it, but because it's a family heirloom. The book signifies so much to him now that both of his parents are dead, and he wants to have something connected to them. If you want to know more about our take on the Bible, check out the "Symbols" section.
Quote #8
He prayed to his mother; he prayed that she wasn't wrong to preach the path of peace. He prayed to his father; he prayed that his father had known what he was talking about when he said that you should never put a powerful new smokeless cartridge into an old gun like theirs. (37.14)
Faith might be important to Maria, but family is the most significant thing to Sig. Here he prays to his parents, since this brings him more comfort than talking to any religious figure.
Quote #9
Well, it was what you said to me, as you left the cabin. I suddenly saw what I had to do. I wanted to be true to our mother, but I didn't want to let our father down either. And I saw a way to do both, to make them both happy. (39.28)
When his sister asks him why he didn't kill Wolff years later, this is Sig's answer. It turns out he wasn't so worried about Wolff's life, or even his own—instead he wanted to do something that would make his parents proud of him.
Quote #10
Home is something you carry inside you, and it's made from the memories of the people you love, and the people who have loved you. (39.38)
In the end, Sig realizes that home is more about where your family is than your address. Since his family moved around a lot after Einar stole money, this is a good thing for Sig to feel. It also shows us that—all these years later—Sig cares more about family than anything else.