How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Near the slope where once cotton stalks had stood, their brown bolls popping with tiny puffs of cotton, the land was charred, desolate, black, still steaming from the night. (12.85)
So this is why Cassie cries for the land at the end of the book: it's been wounded. Plus, the "still steaming" imagery means that the struggle isn't over yet. Since a quarter of Papa's cotton crop was destroyed, the Logan family land is in serious danger.