How does Billie Jo feel about empty spaces?
The second poem, “The Empty Spaces,” speaks of Billie Jo’s isolation from her father. She feels like he is a stranger, and she wants to be alone yet is scared of solitude. Her mother’s death has left so many empty spaces.
Why did Billie Jo feel haunted in out of the dust?
Why was Billie Jo desperate to get home in the Dust Storm? She was desperate to get home so that her father didn’t have to look for her so that she isn’t burdened about the fact she might be blamed for killing her father when she is already blamed for killing her mother.
Why is Billie Jo and her family struggling?
Parental Problems Billie Jo’s complex relationship with both her parents is another significant part of her character. And while she has a lot in common with Ma, Ma’s resistance to her playing piano publically often makes their relationship deteriorate into a classic parent-child standoff (15.4).
How does Billie Jo’s mom die in out of the dust?
Screaming to her husband, Billie Jo’s mother runs out to the fields, with Billie Jo behind her. Billie Jo is left trying to give water (using immensely burned and swollen hands) to her burned and injured mother. In the chapter Devoured, Billie Jo’s mother dies while giving birth to her son.
Does Billie Jo die in out of the dust?
She dies after giving birth to a baby boy, who also dies days later. They are buried together on the farm. Louise will marry Billie Jo’s father and become Billie Jo’s stepmother.
Who is Billie Jo’s crush?
Mad Dog Craddock
Does Billie Jo have a crush on Mad Dog?
Billie Jo clearly has feelings for him though, and while she supports him going to live the dream, it heightens her own sense of being stuck that she struggles with throughout the story.
Who teaches music once a week at Billie Jo’s school?
Arley Wanderdale is the music teacher who comes to Billie Jo’s school once a week.
How old is Billie Jo in out of the dust?
14 years old
Who does Billie Jo name the baby after?
Billie Jo tries to smother the flames with her hands, badly burning them in the process. A few days later, Ma dies giving birth to a baby boy, whom Daddy names Franklin (as in Roosevelt). Billie Jo struggles with anger toward both herself and Daddy for what happened.
Who is Billie Jo in out of the dust?
Out of the Dust Characters Billie Jo Kelby is a 14-year-old girl living in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl years. Billie Jo loves her family and her music, and she struggles when both are taken from her. Billie Jo is the first-person narrator of the free verse poems that make up Out of the Dust.
What does the piano symbolize in out of the dust?
Piano. The piano is arguably the most precious object in this novel. It’s a key element in Billie Jo’s life, and it represents her Ma, her yearnings for freedom and her acceptance of herself.
How does Billie Jo show that she has forgiven her father?
How does Billie Jo show that she has forgiven her father and herself? Billy Jo shows that she has forgiven herself and her father by having a healthy relationship with her father and starting again to play the piano, thus causing her to by happy and move on.
What are the causes of Billie Jo’s bitterness?
She is angry because she can’t play the piano the way she used to. And she is angry because she can no longer depend on her piano playing as her ticket out of the Dust Bowl.
What is the climax of out of the dust?
Climax: Billie Jo runs away and tries to escape to California. Falling Action: Billie Jo calls for her father to meet her at the train station because she realized that she needed to be home. She realizes that she is a vital part of the farm and can’t see her life without her father in it.
What did humans learn from the Dust Bowl?
Besides the introduction of advanced farming machinery, crops were bio-engineered; through hybridization and cross-breeding, development in crops were made that allowed them to be more drought-resistant, grow with less water, and on land in locations where water resources were scarcer.
What is the conflict in out of the dust?
The conflict is person versus nature because Billie Jo feels trapped in the dust. She hates the dust. The conflict is also external. The conflict is external because the dust is outside and everywhere.
What was the resolution in out of the dust?
In the poem “Finding a Way,” the resolution of Out of the Dust includes Billie Jo’s healing hands and ability to play the piano, Daddy’s putting the farm back into production, and her enthusiasm about Daddy and Louise’s upcoming marriage.
What is the plot in out of the dust?
A poem cycle that reads as a novel, Out of the Dust tells the story of a girl named Billie Jo, who struggles to help her family survive the dust-bowl years of the Depression. Fighting against the elements on her Oklahoma farm, Billie Jo takes on even more responsibilities when her mother dies in a tragic accident.
What is the initiating event in out of the dust?
Billie Jo returns home and calls her father “Daddy.” What is the initiating event of Out of the Dust? Ma and Billie Jo are severely burned from the kerosene.