Every member of Lucy’s family is obsessed with gold. Ba spends his whole life prospecting for it after foolishly throwing away the first nugget he ever found. Sam continues in his father’s footsteps as a prospector and actually succeeds in accumulating the ore. When he and his comrades are robbed, he steals the gold back. Sadly, there are negative consequences to this foolhardy action. Ma, who seems outwardly unconcerned with the precious metal, is actually the greediest member of her family. She hoards the family’s last lump of gold inside her cheek to protect it from robbers. Afterward, she uses it to make her escape, leaving the others to fend for themselves.

Lucy’s relationship with gold is a bit more complicated than that of her parents and brother. While she is fascinated with the ore, she is equally fascinated with the land from which it comes. She sees the dry California hills as a different form of gold. The hills hold all her memories of the past and of her family, so they represent another kind of riches.

The value of gold the color and gold the ore seems to be echoed in the book’s title.