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
A woman named Louise cooks dinner for Billie Jo and her father. Apparently, Louise stayed with Billie Jo’s father during the few days she was gone. After dinner, Billie Jo’s father does the dishes, and then the three of take a walk around the homestead together. Louise tells Billie Jo that she would like to be a part of her and her father’s life. Billie Jo is not sure whether she can accept Louise, but she knows her father already has. Additionally, she likes Louise, even though she was not sure that she would at first.
Although Louise seems like a kind person, Billie Jo is wary of her because she views her as if she is in a competition against Billie Jo’s mother. Billie Jo does not like the idea of replacing her mother with another person. Although that is not necessarily what Billie Jo’s father is trying to do, it is how Billie Jo interprets it at first.
Themes
During the walk, Billie Jo asks her father if he still wants her to go live with Aunt Ellis. Her father explains that he never wanted that and would much rather Billie Jo stay in the Panhandle with him. His answer fills Billie Jo with warmth. However, she worries Louise will take up too much of her father’s life, just as Billie Jo and her father were starting to repair their relationship.
Although Billie Jo has started to forgive her father, she still does not entirely trust him to be there when she needs him. Billie Jo does not want to have to fight for her father’s attention like she has in the past, nor does she want to have an antagonistic relationship with Louise. At the moment, it is unclear to her whether her family life can return to normal.
Themes
