Character:
In Jacob 5, the servants have a goal to bring forth good fruit to the Lord of the vineyard. They try many different ways to save the trees, but nothing works so they end up burning the vineyard at the end of the chapter.
Plot:
The opening of Jacob 5 the Lord of the vineyard sees that his Olive tree is beginning to decay. He then tells his servants that they are to prune it, dig about it, and nourish it until it becomes strong once again. The tree then begins to grow in young branches, but the top of the tree continues to perish. The Lord then pleads with the servant asking him to pluck out the bad branches and throw them in the fire. The servant does as the Lord asks him and it does not work. We see this repeatedly throughout the chapter.
Dialogue:
Throughout Jacob 5, the dialogue between the servant and the Lord is simple. The Lord asks the servant to do something. The servant then goes and does what he was asked and comes back to the Lord to tell him the progress of each tree and the vineyard as a whole to the Lord. Once the servant has told the Lord the progress of tree the Lord tells the servant what he should do next to ensure that the vineyard continues to grow.
I too have remembered the parable of the Olive tree--and there are parts that are highly repeated as you mentioned in your section about plot. It is interesting that it is stressed over and over. I almost want to sit down and count all of the tasks and repetitions about this parable. I also like what you mentioned about dialogue. The matter-of-fact way of looking at this allows for many other comparisons. I am reminded of other times in our religion (specifically in the temple) where there is a commandment followed by immediate action. It is a clear parallel of return and report. I don't think that I had noticed that about this parable, until now.
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