Apples Symbol Analysis

In Out of the Dust, apples symbolize life. Their growth, or lack thereof, parallels Billie Jo’s own vitality. Apples appear in the story because Billie Jo’s mother plants apple trees. Even though the apple trees require extra resources, Billie Jo’s mother carefully tends to them and makes sure they survive, just as she does for Billie Jo herself. When Billie Jo’s mother is severely injured in a fire, the apples start to wither and die, suggesting they might signify her life force rather than Billie Jo’s. This notion is seemingly solidified when the last apple falls off the tree on the same day Billie Jo’s mother dies. However, the apples do not disappear forever. At the end of the novel, the apple trees come back as the climate starts to stabilize, and Louise brings apples over to Billie Jo’s house. The return of the apples reinforces the idea that they are related to Billie Jo’s vitality because, at this point in the novel, she is starting to feel alive again. Notably, her vitality—and thus the apples—is also linked to a maternal presence, suggesting that mother figures can be uniquely nurturing and life-sustaining in children’s lives.