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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Out of the Dust, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Nature, Survival, and the Dust Bowl
Poverty, Charity, and Community
Coming of Age
Family and Forgiveness
Summary
Analysis
As the crops ripened in the Oklahoma Panhandle, Billie Jo was born. Billie Jo’s mother gave birth to her on their kitchen floor because she did not have time to get to the doctor. Billie Jo came out of the womb crying; her mother says she “hollered herself red” and has stayed that way since. Billie Jo’s father wanted a son but got her instead. Billie Jo has long legs, a wide mouth, prominent cheekbones, red hair, and freckles. She loves apples and playing the piano. She and her family live in a shack, and her father raises her like she is a boy.
Billie Jo and the crops in the Panhandle spring to life at the same time. Despite Billie Jo’s father’s disappointment about the sex of his child, it is a prosperous time when people can easily survive in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Of course, there are still challenges—as the conditions of Billie Jo’s birth demonstrate—but largely, it is an exciting and relatively comfortable time.
Themes
After Billie Jo was born, her parents tried having other children but could not. However, recently, Billie Jo’s mother announced she is pregnant again. This is great news because Billie Jo’s parents are not close with any of their few surviving relatives, and they want to expand their family. However, there will be a significant age gap between Billie Jo and her new sibling, as she will be 14 years old when they are born. Billie Jo wonders whether her father will finally get the son he has always wanted.
Here, a giant leap in time occurs. Although Billie Jo does not give a year, her age tells the reader it is now 1934—the middle of the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl was a time of widespread poverty and devastation in the Oklahoma Panhandle, though neither of these qualities is apparent yet, given what Billie Jo is talking about here. In fact, the tone is mostly positive, though Billie Jo’s father’s desire for a son might be a problem down the line.
Themes
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