Answer:
"Out of the Dust" is a multi-stable image with many connotations. Why not say, "leaving the dust bowl"? That is what many people of the Panhandle are doing. But Hess's choice of words implies much more. They are not leaving, but "out of it, as though they are a part of something. "Out of implies a bond or a common origin. "Dust" becomes its entity in a symbolic world, a community, society enclosed in a world of dust. Like being in a womb, they are part of it, living, breathing, taking nourishment, trapped, struggling, growing, and changing. In Billie Jo, a metamorphosis takes place, "And I'm learning,/watching Daddy, that you can stay/ in one place/ and still grow" (226). Many think of the Graves of Wrath and the struggles of those who fled the dustbowl, but we get an intimate look at what life was like for those who remained in the dust through a young girl's eyes. As the title Out of the Dust implies, this story is born from their struggle.
Step-by-step explanation: