In the historical fiction novel Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, the central character Billie Jo faces many adversities that could have crushed her hopes, dreams and spirit. The author Karen Hesse, states, “the way I see it, hard times aren’t only about money, or drought, or dust. .Hard times are about losing spirit, and hope, and what happens when dreams dry up.” This quote means that the way the author sees it, the hard times in Billie Jo’s life aren’t always on the surface, as she faced losing her sense of self, her optimism, and her goals she wished to achieve. Billie Jo is confronted with the challenges of her strained relationship with her father, as well as guilt over her mother’s death, yet she is able to hold onto her spirit, hopes, …show more content…
Despite the ache in her heart that her mother’s death left her with, Billie Jo conquered her pain and continued to play the piano. Despite the physical hurt it caused her hands and the emotional pain it causes her as it remind her of her mother Billie Jo persisted and didn’t give up on her dreams of piano playing. Such as when Billie Jo thinks, “I play songs that have only the pattern of myself in them and you hum along supporting me. You are the companion to myself. The mirror with my mother’s eyes,”(194.). To Billie Jo, a piano symbolized her mother and everything her mother was to her, but she rebuilt herself and continued to play and by the end of the novel Billie Jo is playing at home once again. After running away Billie Jo also realized how much her father still meant to her. Despite all the pain he has caused her, she reconnects with him and together they rebuild their relationship into one where they both know they still love and care for the other. For example, when Billie Jo returns she thinks, “as we walk together, side by side, in the swell of dust, I am forgiving him, step by step, for the pail of kerosene. As we walk together, side by side, in the sole-deep dust, I am forgiving myself for all the rest,” (206). Billie Jo is forgiving her father and forgiving herself, as they patch up themselves and each other and grow stronger together. Through strength of …show more content…
Karen Hesse stated that, “the way I see it, hard times aren’t only about money, or drought, or dust. Hard times are about losing spirit, and hope, and what happens when dreams dry up.” But she is wrong about Billie Jo who holds onto her sense of self as well as optimism and admirations. Many farmers in this time left and never returned, as they gave up on their hopes, but Billie Jo did return after running away as she realized that she still had hope.. Readers can learn from Billie Jo, that you can recover, and rebuild after difficult
This passage demonstrates the trouble that the author Wes Moore’s family and their friends go through to help send him to military school. Once Wes makes his first attempt at escaping from Valley Forge Military Academy he contacts his mother in an attempt to come home, she then divulged all the sacrifices she’d been making to send him there and steer his life in a better direction. From this, the author hopes to show that people who are supported throughout their lives have a greater chance of success in the future if they strive to reach goals that they set for themselves. The first two paragraphs of this passage show how determined Wes’ mother was to help him change his life.
Lucy Flucker Knox….. By Annika Heieie Lucy Flucker Knox helped with her own time and resources when ever possible. "I hope you will consider yourself as commander in chief of your own house,but be convinced, that there is such a thing as equal command.” By Lucy Flucker Knox. This quote means that everyone has an equal say.
Her inner self craves for freedom to drive past and achieve something. She envisions her song as a luxurious Cadillac, where she now wants a materialistic world. She is in her imaginary world until the heat of the urn in her hand bring back her to reality, where she starts comparing to her real life, hallow and vapid. She attempts to find comfort in her room, as she says “coffee cruises my mind visiting the most remote way stations, I think of my room as a calm arrival each book and lamp in its place.” She starts to reflect her possessions and the security they give her and what they represent in her life.
Beautiful music plays in their head and inspires them. The first patient introduced in the book, Tony Cicoria, described his case of musicophilia as a life-changing event. He had never found music a significant part of his life, but after he was suddenly struck by lightning, he experienced a strong desire to listen to classical music. Soon, he found a way to teach himself to play the piano at the age of forty-two, and a new stage of his life began. He began to compose and perform his pieces, stating that “whenever he sat down at the piano to work on his Chopin, his own music ‘would come and take him over’”.
Janie that is rebelling against society and her grandmother so
After her mother dies, she and her father are trying to live with one another and fill in the hole left without Ma. Billie Jo is probably thinking about how similar she and her father are because she desperately misses her mother. She doesn’t miss her mother as if she is going on a trip. She misses her like someone old enough to sense the foreboding sense of death, and who knows her mother will never come back. Billie Jo says, “I think I should give them a rest, let the dust rest, let the world rest.
To begin, Billie Jo’s father lost his wife and Billie Jo lost her mother. He loses her from a fire that started from a bottle of kerosene by the stove when she mistaken it for water. It set fire and she ran out the door to get her husband, but Billie
In the book “ Johnny Tremain” written by Esther Forbes, the theme pride really stands out in the beginning of the book. In this book, it repeatedly shows pride as a bad thing. Pride is one of the few things in the world that isn’t just good or evil. Pride is only evil if you let it become more important than everything else. This is a quote by C.Lewis “ pride is a spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, contentment, or even common sense,’”
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Miss Caroline is treated poorly because some of her students think she is picking on a kid that comes from a poor family. It is the first day of first grade for Scout and Miss Caroline is her teacher. Miss Caroline's students do not realize that she is not trying to pick on a student named Walter when she tries to be nice by paying for his lunch but does not know that he would have to pay the money back. “You’re shamin’ him, Miss Caroline. Walter hasn’t got a quarter at home to bring you”.(Lee 28)
H. P. Lovecraft once said “the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”. He is implying that one may fear the thought of change but is tired of one's old way of living. Many people can feel trapped and buried with tradition, emotions, and general way of life. Many people are scared of change but do not feel like it will be a positive change. An individual can be overwhelmed by tradition and may crave for change.
Also it says,” When mom died, I didn’t want to go on, either. I don’t know. I don’t feel the same now, not exactly. Now that i see that one days after another and you’ll get through them one measure at a time.” Most people want to give up when life gets tough, but Billie Jo still remains hopeful and hangs on through the daily struggles of life.
Refugees experience many hardships throughout their journeys. The struggle to survive, escape and adjust are only some of the things they have to endure while escaping. In the novel, Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai, she expressed the difficulties that refugees experience while fleeing and finding a home. So far through Ha’s life, she had experienced difficulties in every place she had been to. Back in her home country, she encountered many challenges while she tried to escape and that continued in Alabama when she tried to adjust.
The speaker as a child would see his father as a harsh man but as an adult, when he looked back he saw that his father had a love for his family. His father's love could be considered as a hidden love. However in the poem “Piano” the speaker's life seemed great until he looked back at his past to see his mother playing the piano and
What gives someone hope in a world of death and despair? Is it a mother, or a child? Can the generations of your family give hope in a world of darkness? Edwidge Danticat, author of, Krik? Krak!, answers this.
Legacy has an important part in the memories and outlooks of Berniece. The pictures and carvings on the piano remind Berniece of her mother and hardship the family has gone through living as slaves under Sutter’s family. In The Piano Lesson the main theme is allowing the past to be present in life. During the play Berniece and her brother, Boy Willy, argue about whom the family piano belongs to and what they should do with it.