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Idiom
Explanation and Analysis—Two Nickels:
In Chapter 2, when the Caseys move back to the KC Ranch, the Clemenses' daughter, Dorothy, warns Lily's father against killing his neighbor's dogs in retribution, using an idiom to show how feuds can destroy families:
“My brother’s dead, and we ain’t got two nickels to rub together,” [Dorothy] said, “because a stupid argument over a damn game of horseshoes got out of hand.”
Dorothy uses the idiom "two nickels to rub together" to exaggerate the state of poverty her family is in after her brother's death. It isn't as though they don't literally have two nickels to rub together, but she uses this expression to show that they are in such a state of poverty that they feel as though they don't have the luxury of even rubbing two coins together.
She uses this idiom for two reasons: first, to convince Adam that such an argument can destroy one's entire family and livelihood, not just impacting Adam but his wife and children, too. Secondly, the idiom serves to show that this is not an isolated incident. The phrase is common, and other families are in similar situations of not having "two nickels to rub together." If Adam pursues this feud further, they, too, may end up in the same situation as those families.
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