Billie Jo's Journey
Throughout the novel, Billie Jo wrestles with her relationship with her mother and her relationship with her father. She also must come to terms with her need for home and family versus her desire to break away. In addition, after the accident, she ahs to deal with her disability. Trace these processes through Billie Jo's seasons by completing her journey.
WINTER 1934
What is Billie Jo's main interpersonal problem? Give at least three examples of this.
Her best friend Livie moved to California. She doesn't get to see her anymore and she is lonely. Piano is a struggle because she wants to play piano, but she cant play because her mom is putting her down. Billy Jo feels her dad does not love her because he wanted a boy.
What is Bille Jo's main problem with her everyday, non-family related, life?
The dust in the area caused a lot of dust in her eyes, face, and food and drinks, everywhere.
SPRING 1934
What main problem does Bille Jo write about now?
e main m Billy Jo writes about now is how much more time it will take to take care of the baby. Billy Jo and her family already have their hands full. Billy Jo hopes that this dust will end.
What are Billie Jo's two sources of comfort and for what reasons?
Her two sources of comfort were apples and playing piano.
SUMMER 1934
What catastophic events happen now?
Billy Jo's mom, Polly, and her unborn baby brother, Franklin, died when Billy Jo tried to throw out the flaming kerosene out the door.
What personal problems does Billie Jo now struggle with? Quote passages that express these problems.
Billy Jo doesn't feels lonely now without her Ma comforting her, and she feels crippled because she burned her hands. "I had swollen lumps for hands, they dripped a sickly pus, they swung stupidly from my wrists, they stung with pain." (p. 65)
What interpersonal problem now develops for Bille Jo? Give several examples of this problem in action.
Billy Jo is awkward with her dad now since she thinks that her dad blames her for her mom's death. "I don't know my father anymore. He sits across from me, he looks like my father, he chews his food like my father, he brushes his dusty hair back like my father, but he is a stranger." (p. 76)
AUTUMN 1934
What is Billie Jo's main focus now?
Billy Jo's main focus during Autumn 1934 is to adjust herself to life without the full affect of her hands, since everything hurts when she uses them or plays the piano with them.
WINTER and SPRING 1935
How are Billie Jo's feelings about her mother changing? Give examples of this.
Instead of grieving about Ma and feeling like she can't do anything, she tries to move on, but also thinks sometimes about what Ma would do in a situation, "If Ma could put her arm across my shoulder sometime, or stroke back my hair, or sing me to sleep, making the soft sounds." (P.148)
What is Billie Jo's main ongoing interpersonal problem now? Give examples of this problem in action.
Billy Jo's main interpersonal problem now was that she was trying to move on with her life and forget the accident and how she can't play piano or have the full usefulness of her hands, "If Ma could put her arm across my shoulder sometime, or stroke back my hair, or sing me to sleep, making the soft sounds." (P.148)
What main feeling does Billie Jo express about where she lives? Quote passages in which Billie Jo expressed this feeling.
Billie Jo's main feeling about her home is that it's just filled with blowing dust and fields of dead wheat and hopelessness, "Fleeing the blowing dust, fleeing the fields of brown- tipped wheat." (P.160)
What progress does Billie Jo make in coping with her burned hands? Quote passages that express this.
Billy Jo stops playing the piano because it hurts her hands when she does and her music doesn't sound good anymore, "I couldn't play. It had been to long. My hands wouldn't work." (P. 174)
SUMMER 1935
What feelings allow BIllie Jo to make the choice to leave home? Quote lines that express this.
The feeling that allows Billie Jo to make the choice to leave home is that she knows her father is rotting away, and when he passes away, she feels there is nothing left for her at home, which persuades her to leave home before that happens, "He is rotting away, like his father, ready to leave me behind in the dust. Well I'm leaving first." (P. 196)
Why does Billie Jo decide to return home?
She meets a man on the train, which reminds her of her father, which afterwards she realizes that her home is the dust and she belongs there.
AUTUMN 1935
What steps does Billie Jo's father take to help him and Billie Jo reconcile?
Billy Jo's father first takes Billy Jo's advice and sees a doctor about his spots, showing that he cares about her advice. The next thing he does was trying to fill in the gap that Ma left with a new woman named Louise.
What characterisitics and actions of Louise allow Billie to accept this new woman?
Billy Jo accepts Louise because Louise was kind and funny to both of them, mending the gap and relationship between them. She also takes care of the house and Billy Jo's father, which Billy Jo cares about a lot.
In what ways does hope return to the Kelby's farm?
The way that they are now a family and have a relationship together as a family and aren't awkward anymore was a way that hope returns to their farm. Another way that hope returns is because she starts to use her hands and play the piano again.
What do the role of the piano and her hands now reveal about Billie Jo's recovery?
The role of the piano and her hands reveal that Billy Jo is returning both physically and mentally to before the accident and before everything bad happened.
What is Billie Jo's main interpersonal problem? Give at least three examples of this.
Her best friend Livie moved to California. She doesn't get to see her anymore and she is lonely. Piano is a struggle because she wants to play piano, but she cant play because her mom is putting her down. Billy Jo feels her dad does not love her because he wanted a boy.
What is Bille Jo's main problem with her everyday, non-family related, life?
The dust in the area caused a lot of dust in her eyes, face, and food and drinks, everywhere.
SPRING 1934
What main problem does Bille Jo write about now?
e main m Billy Jo writes about now is how much more time it will take to take care of the baby. Billy Jo and her family already have their hands full. Billy Jo hopes that this dust will end.
What are Billie Jo's two sources of comfort and for what reasons?
Her two sources of comfort were apples and playing piano.
SUMMER 1934
What catastophic events happen now?
Billy Jo's mom, Polly, and her unborn baby brother, Franklin, died when Billy Jo tried to throw out the flaming kerosene out the door.
What personal problems does Billie Jo now struggle with? Quote passages that express these problems.
Billy Jo doesn't feels lonely now without her Ma comforting her, and she feels crippled because she burned her hands. "I had swollen lumps for hands, they dripped a sickly pus, they swung stupidly from my wrists, they stung with pain." (p. 65)
What interpersonal problem now develops for Bille Jo? Give several examples of this problem in action.
Billy Jo is awkward with her dad now since she thinks that her dad blames her for her mom's death. "I don't know my father anymore. He sits across from me, he looks like my father, he chews his food like my father, he brushes his dusty hair back like my father, but he is a stranger." (p. 76)
AUTUMN 1934
What is Billie Jo's main focus now?
Billy Jo's main focus during Autumn 1934 is to adjust herself to life without the full affect of her hands, since everything hurts when she uses them or plays the piano with them.
WINTER and SPRING 1935
How are Billie Jo's feelings about her mother changing? Give examples of this.
Instead of grieving about Ma and feeling like she can't do anything, she tries to move on, but also thinks sometimes about what Ma would do in a situation, "If Ma could put her arm across my shoulder sometime, or stroke back my hair, or sing me to sleep, making the soft sounds." (P.148)
What is Billie Jo's main ongoing interpersonal problem now? Give examples of this problem in action.
Billy Jo's main interpersonal problem now was that she was trying to move on with her life and forget the accident and how she can't play piano or have the full usefulness of her hands, "If Ma could put her arm across my shoulder sometime, or stroke back my hair, or sing me to sleep, making the soft sounds." (P.148)
What main feeling does Billie Jo express about where she lives? Quote passages in which Billie Jo expressed this feeling.
Billie Jo's main feeling about her home is that it's just filled with blowing dust and fields of dead wheat and hopelessness, "Fleeing the blowing dust, fleeing the fields of brown- tipped wheat." (P.160)
What progress does Billie Jo make in coping with her burned hands? Quote passages that express this.
Billy Jo stops playing the piano because it hurts her hands when she does and her music doesn't sound good anymore, "I couldn't play. It had been to long. My hands wouldn't work." (P. 174)
SUMMER 1935
What feelings allow BIllie Jo to make the choice to leave home? Quote lines that express this.
The feeling that allows Billie Jo to make the choice to leave home is that she knows her father is rotting away, and when he passes away, she feels there is nothing left for her at home, which persuades her to leave home before that happens, "He is rotting away, like his father, ready to leave me behind in the dust. Well I'm leaving first." (P. 196)
Why does Billie Jo decide to return home?
She meets a man on the train, which reminds her of her father, which afterwards she realizes that her home is the dust and she belongs there.
AUTUMN 1935
What steps does Billie Jo's father take to help him and Billie Jo reconcile?
Billy Jo's father first takes Billy Jo's advice and sees a doctor about his spots, showing that he cares about her advice. The next thing he does was trying to fill in the gap that Ma left with a new woman named Louise.
What characterisitics and actions of Louise allow Billie to accept this new woman?
Billy Jo accepts Louise because Louise was kind and funny to both of them, mending the gap and relationship between them. She also takes care of the house and Billy Jo's father, which Billy Jo cares about a lot.
In what ways does hope return to the Kelby's farm?
The way that they are now a family and have a relationship together as a family and aren't awkward anymore was a way that hope returns to their farm. Another way that hope returns is because she starts to use her hands and play the piano again.
What do the role of the piano and her hands now reveal about Billie Jo's recovery?
The role of the piano and her hands reveal that Billy Jo is returning both physically and mentally to before the accident and before everything bad happened.