How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
If the growing Danny preferred to sleep in the forest, to work on ranches, and to wrest his food and wine from an unwilling world, it was not because he did not have influential relatives. (Preface.6)
In this quote, we can see the what-might-have-been of Danny's life. He has important relatives who could have hooked him up with a house and job (okay, they did hook him up with two houses), but he rejects that lifestyle and prefers to live like a bum. We wonder if he would have that preference if he didn't come from a rich family and didn't have the choice.
Quote #2
Danny moved cautiously into the house. He had bitter memories of the viejo. (2.6)
Aha. We don't know much about what Danny's problem is with his family, but here we get a tiny glimpse of the fact that he has a bad relationship with his grandfather, the one who left him the houses. For whatever reason, Danny doesn't have good memories of the old man, so that may be why he doesn't want to be a landowner like him.
Quote #3
Sweets was not content. Her house was up the hill from Danny's house, in a direction he did not often take. Sweets could not go looking for him. She was a lady, and her conduct was governed by very strict rules of propriety. (9.6)
Danny isn't the only one who is dissatisfied in Tortilla Flat, but Sweets' discontent has to do with her inability to trap Danny and the fact that social norms won't let her do what it takes to get him. She is a woman, and so she can't go out hunting Danny or people will talk about her, and not in a good way, so she has to wait for him to pass by, and hope that he'll take an interest in her when he does. It's not a fast method, but it's all she's got.