According to the excerpt, it can be inferred that the greetings, if any at all were received, were unfriendly in nature, and that negore was little liked in his community.
This tells me that Ralph has a lot of weight on his back. Everyone depends on him which makes him stressed and not want to deal with anything. He doesn't want to be the leader. This moment foreshadow's that something is going to come up and Ralph needs to take the leader position.
Best of luck,

Writers use it to tell what the personality of a character is.