Leaving

One of the major themes of this book involves leaving or getting out of the dust bowl. Look at all the people who leave. Billie Jo's childhood friend, Livie Killian, moves away. The migrant workers, despite their seemingly desperate straits, are fortunate to move on. The family that moves into the schoolhouse eventually leaves. The wild boy who will work for food leaves and moves on.

Ma and Franklin don't leave in the same way, and they don't go voluntarily. Still, they leave, as do Haydon P. Nye and his wife, as well as Pete Guymon, who dies of dust pneumonia. Mad Dog leaves to sing on the radio. Billie Jo's thoughts are on getting out all the time. She is increasingly aware that there is a bigger world beyond Joyce City, a world with more to offer her artistic soul and with no dust.

When Billie Jo...