“‘You remember, boys,’ Ermel said, ‘anything will bend if you put enough fire to it. Remember that.’” 

Ermel Justice says these words to Rondal when he is still a boy, before Rondal gets involved with the union. These words foreshadow events later in the novel when the coal miners become so fed up by the unfair ways in which they are treated by the coal companies that they decide to strike. 

“‘Company runs everything, makes all your daddy’s decisions for him, even gits his mail. Hit’s like Russia with that there Czar. Your daddy aint a free man. He’s like a slave.’” 

C. J. says these words to Rondal when Rondal is still a boy. These words help characterize C. J. as an activist who is speaking out against the union early on in the novel. The comparison of the miners to “slaves” also demonstrates just how bad the coal companies’ treatment of the miners is.

“I first began to understand what I have learned since, that there are forces in this world, principalities and powers, that wrench away the things that are loved, people and land, and return only exile.” 

Carrie makes this observation after Albion is taken away from her when they are children. These words will come to foreshadow many other times in which something is taken away from Carrie, such as Albion’s sudden and unjust death.