...rent for a down trodden house that could barely hold both families. Contrary to our pessimistic views, my cousin and I still grew up to be one of the hardest working students and one of the smartest in each of our classes. I recently read several novels that depict what I learned from childhood. Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle, Janet Fitch’s White Oleander, and Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust are all novels that illustrate the theme that unfortunate childhood experiences do not always equate to an inferior or desolate adulthood. In Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse writes about a girl named Billie Jo that lived on a farm during the Dust Bowl. She writes “The dirt blew down so thick it scratched my eyes and stung my tender skin, it plugged my nose and filled inside my mouth”(Hesse 143). Hesse illustrates how Billie Jo grew up having to deal with things like dust flooding into her house. She explains how Billie Jo lived in poverty on a dying farm during the harsh and dry Dust Bowl. The reader see that Billie Jo is struggling for life and is not hopeful for a new and better life at all. Hesse then starts shining a hopeful light into Billie Jo’s life. She writes “It was the kindest kind of rain that fell . . . softened its stubborn pride, and eased it back to life”(Hesse 177). Hesse indicates th. The rain is used to symbolize that Billie Jo’s life was getting better and that she was not going to have a hard time any longer. Hesse shows that even though Billie Jo had lived through the rough...
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