Probably the most poignant quote from In the Blood occurs when Hester is told by Amiga Gringa that she should put one or more of her children up for adoption. Hester answers:

My kids is mine. I get rid of em what do I got? Nothing. I got nothing now, but if they go I got less than nothing.

Hester listens to a tape of Reverend D, the preacher who is the father of her youngest child, Baby. Reverend D (the "D" is like that of Dimmesdale, the preacher in The Scarlet Letter who is the father of Hester Prynne's child) is a huge hypocrite, but his words apply to Hester's situation, and everyone's:

There ain't a soul out there that has walked but hasn't stumbled.

Hester tells her children a fairy-tale which is a parable of her own life with the children, in which she is a Princess and their fathers are five brothers who wanted to marry her. The brothers cry when they learn that the "law of the land" is that a Princess can only marry one man. So Hester says,

. . . the Princess had an idea. She was after all the Princess so she changed the law of the land and married them all.

Hester's quote encapsulates the theme of the individual's defiance of societal law and restrictions. This, along with the corollary issue of women's rights, is what the play is about. Unfortunately, and tragically, Hester is unsuccessful in breaking free of those dictates of the collective which have historically limited one's choices and made outcasts of people.