You could say what was on those pages about him was akin to a coming storm, like dark clouds gathered on a horizon, persistent in their approach. If someone else had read those words, they might have wondered: Would they bring rain or something worse, something destructive?
-- Dixie Dupree (chapter 1 paragraph 1)

Importance: The diary plays a key role throughout the novel and this quote, among others, in Chapter 1 hints at its significance. The diary is the holder of the truth and the keeper of Dixie’s most intimate thoughts. Though in Chapter 1 Everhart does not reveal what has occurred with Uncle Ray, the symbolism of the words “coming storm” and “dark clouds” approaching create an ominous tone meant to warn the reader of dark material ahead.

Most of the time I’d felt like a fly in her glass of lemonade and just when she went to take a big swallow, there I was, ruining...
-- Dixie Dupree (chapter 1 paragraph 3)