We’ll need someone between a rock and a hard place.
-- Mr. Alsuga ("CivilWarLand in Bad Decline")

Importance: In order to deter the teenagers who have been vandalizing the theme park, Mr. Alsuga wishes to hire someone to use unethical, brutal force. At first, he coerces an employee to do so, and he targets an employee who desperately needs his job in order to support his large family. This quotation refers to that dynamic, and it also emphasizes the unethical power that employers can unfortunately wield over employees.

Mrs. McKinnon says there’s been a horrid violent seed in [Mr. McKinnon] since he came home from the war.
-- Protagonist (narration) ("CivilWarLand in Bad Decline")

Importance: When the protagonist communicates with the ghosts of the McKinnon family, it becomes evident that Mr. McKinnon suffers from PTSD due to his experiences fighting in the Civil War. This PTSD eventually drove Mr. McKinnon to kill himself and his family. This plot point parallels the character of Sam...