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
In January 1934, two men who live in Billie Jo’s town (Joyce City), Mr. Noble and Mr. Romney, start a bet over who can kill the most rabbits. Both men are annoyed that rabbits are killing their crops, so they decide to kill as many as they can. Billie Jo doesn’t like the contest. She knows rabbits eat crops they shouldn’t, but she finds the bet cruel. Regardless, the two men go out and come back with the same number of rabbits: 20. After they return, Mr. Romney accuses Mr. Noble of cheating, and from that moment forward, they stop being friends. However, they do send the rabbits to families who could use the meat, which makes Billie Jo feel a bit better.
In between the poems that compose the main narrative are interstitial poems, which flesh out Billie Jo’s world. Many characters who appear in these poems—such as Mr. Noble and Mr. Romney—never show up again or only appear briefly. While it speaks more generally to Billie Jo’s character that she doesn’t like Mr. Noble and Mr. Romney’s competition, crops were already scarce in 1934 before the rabbits got their fill. Farmers could not allow animals to eat their crops because they would not have anything to eat themselves.
Themes
