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
Doc Rice sends Billie Jo to go get water on a hot day. While she is outside, a swarm of grasshoppers ambushes the property, destroying the crops, the garden, and even the laundry. Billie Jo tries to escape them, which leads her to reopening the scabs on her hands—they end up crawling on her anyway. Additionally, the grasshoppers eat the rest of the apples left on Billie Jo’s mother’s trees. The same day, Billie Jo’s mother dies giving birth to a baby boy.
