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
Combines move along the fields, collecting whatever wheat managed to survive. All the local farmers, including a man named Mr. Tuttle, deliver their wheat to town. Mr. Tuttle sells his wheat for 73 cents per bushel and manages to get eight bushels on land where he planted 20. Billie Jo thinks it will be miraculous if her father harvests a quarter of what he has planted.
The town considers Mr. Tuttle’s harvest impressive, despite the fact that he harvested less than half of what he planted. If Mr. Tuttle’s harvest is considered difficult to beat, then the rest of the town must be in terrible shape.
Themes
