Dust Hissed Against the Windows (Auditory Imagery)
Early in Out of the Dust, Billie Jo wakes up in the night to discover that a dust storm is brewing outside. She first sees it in the distance, but soon the dust switches direction and moves toward her house. Billie Jo says: "I fled, barefoot and breathless, back inside, it wasn’t until the dust hissed against the windows, until it ratcheted the roof, that Daddy woke." In this example of auditory imagery, Hesse immerses the reader in Billie Jo's experience by detailing how the wind-borne dust makes a menacing hissing sound against the family's windows.
Blizzard of Sweet-Smelling Flowers (Olfactory Imagery)
In April 1935, the pair of apple trees Ma has planted in the yard come into blossom. Billie Jo says: "I stand under the trees and let the petals fall into my hair, a blizzard of sweet-smelling flowers, dropped from the boughs of the two placed there in the front yard by Ma before I was born." In this example of olfactory imagery, Billie Jo inhales the sweet scent of the apple blossoms that are falling all around her.
Concert of Rain Notes (Auditory Imagery)
While Billie Jo is lying in bed, she wakes to the sound of much-needed rain: "I hear the first drops. Like the tapping of a stranger at the door of a dream, the rain changes everything. It strokes the roof, streaking the dusty tin, ponging, a concert of rain notes, spilling from gutters, gushing through gullies, soaking into the thirsty earth outside." In this example of auditory imagery, Billie Jo describes the changing sounds of the rain on the tin roof as the drops go from light and sporadic to forceful and constant.
Bones Showing in the Green Shale (Visual Imagery)
Late in the novel, Billie Jo is excited by the news that dinosaur bones are being excavated nearby. She says: "Once dinosaurs roamed in Cimarron County. Bones showing in the green shale, ribs the size of plow blades, hip bones like crank phones, and legs running like fence rails down to a giant foot." In this example of visual imagery, Billie Jo describes the surreal sight of giant dinosaur bones found preserved in the green sedimentary rock of their county.
