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2. Rabbit Battles
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
Billie Jo’s friend, Livie Killian, is moving away because her family is going to California. Billie Jo does not want her to go because they have been friends for a long time, and she will miss her. To say goodbye to Livie, Billie Jo and her friends throw a party where they joke and give gifts. Livie gives Billie Jo a picture she drew of Billie Jo sitting at a piano with a straw hat and an apple in her mouth. Billie Jo has a hard time saying goodbye to her friend because she can’t relax the muscles in her throat. After the party is over, Livie sticks around to clean up while everyone else goes home. On her way home, Billie Jo wonders if she is a bad friend for wishing she was the one going west rather than Livie.
Out of the Dust is a coming-of-age story, and Billie Jo goes through a number of hardships that help her mature. Billie Jo lives in a rural area, which means friends—and people in general—can be hard to come by. She loves Livie so much that her throat tightens when she tries to say goodbye. Livie and her family are presumably going to California to seek a better life for themselves; life is hard in the Panhandle, and they hope to have more luck out west. Billie’s desire to follow Livie out west is a desire that will come up again throughout the novel.
Themes
