If Frasier ain't been doing his job, getting ready for grinding is gonna be like licking honey off a blackberry vine.
-- Denton (chapter 3 paragraph 3)

Importance: Denton explains to Charley during their first meeting how difficult it will be to revive her land if the manager had not been working it for several months.The simile implies that the chore of working the fields will be as difficult and as uncomfortable as licking the prickly vine.

My father put, the land in trust, I don't know why, but if I run it, I get the profits after the bank is paid. If I walk away, the land goes to charity.
-- Charley (chapter 3 paragraph 2)

Importance: With this explanation, Charlie tells Denton (and the reader) exactly why she does not just sell the land she inherited, which would make ore sense seeing as how Charley knows nothing about farming or sugarcane, This quote sums up the inciting force for the story's...