What does Billie Jo look like from Out of the Dust?
Billie Jo describes her as being “long and skinny, with poor teeth, and dark hair always needing a wash.” Although Hesse does not reveal Pol’s past, Billie Jo implies that her mother sacrificed a great deal to live in the Dust Bowl with Bayard.
Who is Billie Jo in Out of the Dust?
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.
How did Billie Jo burn her hands in Out of the Dust?
She runs outside with the intention of coming back in, but Billie Jo, unaware of this, throws the flaming bucket of kerosene outside at the moment she returns, catching Ma on fire. Billie Jo tries to smother the flames with her hands, badly burning them in the process.
How old is Billie Jo in Out of the Dust?
14 years old
Billie Jo is 14 years old when Out of the Dust begins. She lives near Joyce City, Oklahoma, located in the Oklahoma Panhandle, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, with her mother and father.
How does Billie Jo spend her birthday?
How does Billie Jo spend her birthday? Burrying her dead mom and brother. Why does Billie Jo hide her hands from her father?
What does it mean literally and figuratively for Billie Jo to get out of the dust?
Jensen 4 Literally dust means finely powdered earth, A cloud of dust comes to mind and the imagery of something suddenly busting, expelled, like a plane from a cloud. Out of the dust is what Billie wants, never to return.
Why did Daddy name his daughter Billie Jo?
Daddy named his daughter Billie Jo because he wanted a boy. If Billie Jo were a boy, she might not play piano and she might have to work harder on the farm. Billie Jo’s teacher, has a part in Madame Butterfly.
How does mad dog feel about Billie Jo?
How does Mad Dog treat Billie Jo? Mad Dog treats Billie Jo like he did before the accident without pity and doesn’t stare at her hands.
Why does Billie Jo hide her injured hands from her father?
Her hands are scarred and peeled, which makes it seem impossible to put them to work. Arley still wants her to play the piano, but Billie Jo just can’t bring herself to do it because it reminds her of Ma. Now she hides her disgraced hands from everyone around, except for the few people that are willing to accept them.
What do Billie Jo’s hands represent for her?
Fire, and the resulting burns on Billie Jo’s hands, is a symbol of destruction (she is unable to play the piano afterward without experiencing great pain), resurrection (she begins to heal her relationship with her father after her mother dies), and the cycle of death and life.