How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Stanza)
Quote #1
Ma tried having other babies. / It never seemed to go right, except with me. (1.5)
Ma's previous miscarriages not only foreshadow that something will eventually go wrong with her current pregnancy, but clues us into the fact that the fragility of life will be a significant theme in the book.
Quote #2
The flaming oil / splashed / onto her apron, / and Ma, / suddenly, Ma, / was a column of fire. (32.5)
Ma's accident is a testimony to how quickly life can change. You can be cooking breakfast one minute and surrounded by flames the next, and lives are left changed as a result. Kansas really was right about that "dust in the wind" thing.
Quote #3
My father stares out across his land, / empty but for a few withered stalks / like the tufts on an old man's head. / I don't know if he thinks more of Ma, / or the wheat that used to grow here. (39.4)
Death is a dark, heavy cloud hovering over Daddy's farm. Not only has he lost his wife and child, but his crop is destroyed; the home he and Ma built together is in shambles.
Quote #4
I couldn't watch at dawn, / when the flower, / touched by the first finger of morning light, / wilted and died. / I couldn't watch / as the tender petals burned up in the sun. (45.5)
Going to see the night-blooming plant is a real treat for Billie Jo, but she knows what will eventually happen to the flower when morning comes. Death is surrounding her life to such a degree that she can't bear to see the plant die.
Quote #5
They buried Haydon Nye on his land, / busted more sod to lay his bones. / Will they sow wheat on his grave, / where the buffalo / once grazed? (58.6)
Haydon Nye's death is kind of ironic. He dedicates his entire life to farming the land through good times and bad, only to be buried in the land itself. His story demonstrates that mortality is inescapable and eventually comes full-circle.
Quote #6
A couple of hours ago, / Pete Guymon died. (74.3)
As if it isn't bad enough that the dust tears up crops, destroys the vegetation for Joe De La Flor's cows, and makes everything pretty messy in general, it also literally kills people. Pete Guymon's death from dust pneumonia reveals the detrimental effects the dust has not only on the mental and emotional state of the people, but their health as well.
Quote #7
The cause of death was / dust pneumonia, / but I think / she couldn't go on without Hayden. / When Ma 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 day / comes after another / and you get through them / one measure at a time. (78.2-3)
Billie Jo's story also reveals not just death's far-reaching impact, but what it does to the loved ones left behind. She speculates here that Hayden's death reduced his wife's will to live, and in her old age, she just gave up. Ugh.
Quote #8
My father thinks awhile, / rubbing that spot on his neck. / He looks out the window, / out across the field, / toward the knoll where Ma and the baby lie. / "It's best to let the dead rest," he says. / And we stay home. (95.5)
Billie Jo wants to go see the unearthing of the dinosaur bones that have been discovered, but Daddy doesn't think it's a good idea. We're not sure why, but it might be because there are already so many reminders of death surrounding the family, including the skin cancer Daddy won't take care of and the graves of his wife and child.
Quote #9
My father's digging his own grave, / he calls it a pond, / but I know what he's up to. / He is rotting away, / like his father, / ready to leave me behind in the dust. (97.4-5)
While Daddy's pond eventually brings the life to the farm that Ma predicted it would, its true purpose is still ambiguous at this point. We know from Billie Jo's initial description of the project that the pond is "six feet deep" (42.1), which is a giant red flag because of how closely associated with death that number is. In Billie Jo's mind, the pond right now is associated with the impending fate her father faces.
Quote #10
I think / he didn't care much / if he had some cancer / and took and died. / Figured he'd see Ma then, / he'd see my brother. / It'd be out of his hands. / He'd be out of the dust. (103.1)
As bad as things are for Billie Jo, Daddy's desire for death demonstrates that they're actually worse for him—having lost his wife, son, and land, he sees death as a welcome end to the tragedy his life has become. Even Billie Jo says that as badly as she wants to get away from home, she doesn't want to die (78.3). That Daddy would consider not getting his cancer treated to escape life shows the depth of his pain.