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
Billie Jo starts refamiliarizing herself with music. In the process, she realizes now that she never should have tried getting “out of the dust” because where she is from is who she is. She accepts herself and her hometown.
Music reminds Billie Jo of who she feels she is fundamentally, which, for her, is indelibly linked to where she was raised. Even though she has spent much of her life trying to get away from the Panhandle, she realizes it is too much a part of her for her to ever leave it behind.