The gold nugget symbolizes Leo’s family. Leo doesn’t treasure it for its material value but for the connection it gave him to his Papa and his Grandpop. This is why he fights so hard to keep it and why the loss of it is almost unbearable. When Fletch and Wilkie steal it, the worst pain is not from being beaten up, but instead is “the searing pain from somewhere deep inside, like something had been ripped out of him. His gold was gone” (13). One of Leo’s primary goals is to get back the gold nugget that was hard-earned by his Grandpop in the California gold rush.

Leo’s connection to family through the gold nugget is not insular. He uses it to connect with Morris as well. When Morris describes his own uncle, who frequently abandons him to go gambling, Leo sees “[t]here [is] no cheering Morris up-until Leo reached into his pocket and took out his gold” (17). Leo shares the stories of his Grandpop with Morris, trying to instill a sense of bravery into him that Leo feels every time he touches the gold and thinks back to those stories.