Out of the Dust
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
1. Beginning: August 1920 2. Rabbit Battles 3. Losing Livie 4. Me and Mad Dog 5. Permission to Play 6. On Stage 7. Birthday for F.D.R. 8. Not Too Much To Ask 9. Mr. Hardly’s Money Handling 10. Fifty Miles South of Home 11. Rules of Dining 12. Breaking Drought 13. Dazzled 14. Debts 15. Foul as Maggoty Stew 16. State Tests 17. Fields of Flashing Light 18. Tested by Dust 19. Banks 20. Beat Wheat 21. Give Up On Wheat 22. What I Don’t Know 23. Apple Blossoms 24. World War 25. Apples 26. Dust and Rain 27. Harvest 28. On The Road With Arley 29. Hope in a Drizzle 30. Dionne Quintuplets 31. Wild Boy of the Road 32. The Accident 33. Burns 34. Nightmare 35. A Tent of Pain 36. Drinking 37. Devoured 38. Blame 39. Birthday 40. Roots 41. The Empty Spaces 42. The Hole 43. Kilauea 44. Boxes 45. Night Bloomer 46. The Path of Our Sorrow 47. Hired Work 48. Almost Rain 49. Those Hands 50. Real Snow 51. Dance Revue 52. Mad Dog’s Tale 53. Art Exhibit 54. State Tests Again 55. Christmas Dinner Without the Cranberry Sauce 56. Driving The Cows 57. First Rain 58. Haydon P. Nye 59. Scrubbing Up Dust 60. Outlined By Dust 61. The President’s Ball 62. Lunch 63. Guests 64. Family School 65. Birth 66. Time To Go 67. Something Sweet From Moonshine 68. Dreams 69. The Competition 70. The Piano Player 71. No Good 72. Snow 73. Night School 74. Dust Pneumonia 75. Dust Storm 76. Broken Promise 77. Motherless 78. Following in His Steps 79. Heartsick 80. Skin 81. Regrets 82. Fire on the Rails 83. The Mail Train 84. Migrants 85. Blankets of Black 86. The Visit 87. Freak Show 88. Help From Uncle Sam 89. Let Down 90. Hope 91. The Rain’s Gift 92. Hope Smothered 93. Sunday Afternoon at the Amarillo Hotel 94. Baby 95. Old Bones 96. The Dream 97. Midnight Truth 98. Out of the Dust 99. Gone West 100. Something Lost, Something Gained 101. Homeward Bound 102. Met 103. Cut It Deep 104. The Other Woman 105. Not Everywhere 106. My Life, or What I Told Louise After the Tenth Time She Came to Dinner 107. November Dust 108. Thanksgiving List 109. Music 110. Teamwork 111. Finding a Way
Themes
All Themes Nature, Survival, and the Dust Bowl Poverty, Charity, and Community Coming of Age Family and Forgiveness
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Billie Jo Billie Jo’s Father Billie Jo’s Mother Louise Mad Dog Craddock Arley Wanderdale
Terms
All Terms Oklahoma Panhandle The Dust Bowl
Symbols
All Symbols Apples Rain
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Out of the Dust

by

Karen Hesse

Out of the Dust Symbols

Apples

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…

read analysis of Apples

Apples Symbol Icon

Rain

Rain symbolizes hope—which, due to the conditions plaguing the Oklahoma Panhandle during the 1930s, the novel suggests is often misplaced. While rain is essential to keeping farmers’ crops and livestock alive, it’s also extremely unreliable…

read analysis of Rain

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