Analysis Of Billie Jo Kelby's Poem 'Out Of The Dust'

Egan also describes the physical effects of the Dust Bowl, in which many children and weak adults suffered, from diseases such as dust pneumonia, livestock’s insides were packed with soil, thus blocking their stomachs and so they died of starvation. People couldn’t hug or even hand shake because the static electricity was enough to knock someone down. He also described the way of life they had, in which in order for dust to not leak into houses, they had to seal cracks around the windows and the door with wet sheets, and however the next day they still had to throw away the soil with a shovel. In order to discharge the static electricity in cars, they had to trail chains. Many were affected economically when they started losing their savings; banks, schools, and businesses closed. Black Sunday, on April 14, 1935, became the worst dust storm ever witnessed. Egan describes the story of a man who was lost in this storm; he became blind for the rest of his life. Temperature raised up to 141 degrees, such weather increased the population of rabbits, grasshoppers, tarantulas, and black widows. These insects were killed with boiled water and, “on Sundays, a mob of people with clubs herded rabbits into a corral and smashed their skulls.” Egan shows a similarity between the homesteaders’ thirst for extreme harvest and the grasshoppers devouring the rest of what was left in the plains,

Lots of adults and children lost their lives during the 1930s. On April 18,1935, a gigantic, black cloud piled up on the western horizon it was called the Dust Bowl. What caused the Dust Bowl?  The Dust Bowl was caused by mechanization, drought, and a significant loss of grass.

During the Dust Bowl many people and kids have suffered, many lost their home and their towns got ruined. One of the people who has suffered in the Dust Bowl is Ashton. When Ashton went to his school he was immediately pulled in by his teacher Mrs. Kam. He was then told that the entire middle east was affected by the Dust Bowl and that a black blizzard will hit very soon. Then the winds outside started to get faster, the windows getting hit by all the dust gathered from the storm, but luckily for the students the school was structured well and was firmly attached to the ground. Many of the students panicked, the teacher trying to comfort them. Ashton was the only one who thought about his family how the black blizzard will affect his

In the TV series “Shameless,” Joan Cusack plays the character Sheila Jackson the role that portrayals someone suffering to overcome agoraphobia. Shelia Jackson shows several symptoms that led to believe she could be diagnosed with many different disorders such as: agoraphobia; panic disorder, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and paraphilia’s disorder. Shelia Jackson is a middle- aged Caucasian woman who lives in Chicago with her clown- obsessed husband, Eddie and rebellious daughter, Karen. Shelia spends her days isolated from the rest of the world, cooking, cleaning and having as much sex as possible. Even the thought of leaving her house left Shelia in a panic.

The Dust Bowl was "the darkest moment in the twentieth-century life of the southern plains," (pg. 4) as described by Donald Worster in his book "The Dust Bowl." It was a time of drought, famine, and poverty that existed in the 1930's. It's cause, as Worster presents in a very thorough manner, was a chain of events that was perpetuated by the basic capitalistic society's "need" for expansion and consumption. Considered by some as one of the worst ecological catastrophes in the history of man, Worster argues that the Dust Bowl was created not by nature's work, but by an American culture that was working exactly the way it was planned. In essence, the Dust Bowl was the effect of a society, which deliberately set out to

The Dust Bowl occurred during The Great Depression in the 1930's. Which was an especially dreadful time for it to happen. Many people were impoverished or were on the brink of poverty. Making the man-made natural disaster all the more devastating.

During the dust storm, a lot of diseases spreaded around and dust got everywhere. “Those who inhaled the airborne prairie dust suffered coughing spasms, shortness of breath, asthma,

In 1934-1936 the actual Dust Bowl happened. This was when the massive and deadly storms hit the prosper and growing Midwest Panhandle. In 1936, a more severe storm spread out of the plains and across most of the nation. The drought years were followed with record breaking heavy rains, blizzards, tornadoes and floods. In September 1930, it rained over five inches in a very short time in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The flooding in Oklahoma was accompanied by a dirt storm, which damaged several small buildings and other farm structures. Later that year, the regions were hit again by a strong dirt storm from the southwest until the winds gave way to a blizzard from the north.

Fine powder coating people's lips, inhaling dust with every breath you take. That is what it was like during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. On Thursday. April 18, 1935, a huge, black, billowing cloud piled up on the western horizon. The people in the Southern Great Plains called the the dust storms dusters. It darkened the midday sky and carried off valuable topsoil and made topsoil erosion. Children and the elderly died from breathing in the dust they called it “dust pneumonia.” Cattle such as chickens and cows couldn’t protect and defend themselves from the dust. They ran around in circles until they fell and died from breathing in so much dust. While humans could cover their mouths and eyes with cloth, scarves, and goggles to protect themselves. Some people had even considered that it was the end of the world. Some of the many factors that caused the Dust Bowl to happen were, over plowing the soil and the cows and buffalo over grazing the grass and, the lack of rainfall or drought in the great plains region.

In the winter of 1934, Billie Jo is 13 and through journal entries, we learn of her mother, father and a few others from a small farming community in the panhandle of Oklahoma. She describes herself as a long-legged, red head with freckles, a good student and passionate piano player. Billie Jo learns her mother is expecting and is excited about the new baby. She writes about typical teenage issues like a friend moving away, school and playing piano. In the summer of 1934, Billie Jo’s life takes a turn for the worse when she and her father are to blame for a horrific accident that claims the life of her mother and infant brother. A bucket of kerosene is left by the stove by Billie Jo’s father. Her mother mistakes the kerosene for water and pours it into a pot sitting on the stove. When the kerosene ignites, Billie Jo’s mother runs outside to get help. Billie Jo is afraid of the house catching on fire so she throws the

This picture shows one of the many dust storms that the Mid-West encountered in the Dust Bowl. In

The Dust Bowl lasted for eight years. The Dust Bowl made simple acts of life hard. Breathing, eating, drinking, and going outside were no longer simple tasks. Children had to wear dust masks to prevent from inhaling the dust. Women hung wet sheets up over the windows to try and stop dirt, to no avail. Farmers just watched as their crops were buried or even flew away. They had no choice in the matter.

What was the Dust Bowl? The Dust Bowl was a period of time in the 1930’s that made the Great Depression that much worse. The Dust Bowl occurred in the western states when fields of crops started to wither

From 1931—when the rains stopped—until 1939—when the drought finally ended, the people living there had to deal with constant problems. Animals and humans were sickened by the dust getting into their lungs and many of them even died from dust pneumonia (Surviving the Dust Bowl). In Amarillo, Texas during 1935, dust storms occurred for a total of 908 hours and from January to March that year the city had zero visibility seven times (Worster). One woman said that being caught in the dust storm was comparable to having a shovelful of fine sand flung

Many events occurred before the years of the Dust Bowl began. The farmers plowed up all of the ground to grow “cash crops” (Marrin 58). The plowing of the soil left no grass to hold down the topsoil, leaving it vulnerable for wind erosion. In 1930, the people of the Great Plains had the biggest shortage of water in the history. “Seventeen million people were affected” (Worster 11). In the early 1930’s, the temperatures went higher than they ever had before (Marrin 52). By 1932, most people had reached their breaking point. Before the dust storms began, there was a cutworm plague, a grasshopper plague, and a rabbit plague (Reis 51 and 52). Between all of the natural problems occurring, the land and people were both exhausted. They had no idea