"A little before noon she lit the lamp."
Though it seems like a simple declarative statement of fact, the story's opening line establishes that the natural state of things in Ellen's world is off. Lighting a lamp just before the brightest part of the day, because dust has blocked the sunlight, introduces the dark and desolate circumstances in which the characters live; it also symbolizes how, amid so much obscuring dust, it will be difficult for Ellen and Paul to see clearly.
“Are you blind? Thistles and tumbleweeds—it's a desert. You won't have a straw this fall. You won't be able to feed a cow or a chicken. Please, Paul, say we'll go away.”
In this passage, the difference between Paul and Ellen's perspectives is made clear. Accusing him of blindness, Ellen details how degraded the land is—something his delusion prevents him from acknowledging. However, Ellen's words will later resonate with Paul when he strokes his emaciated gelding and realizes she is right, he isn't able to even feed his animals.
"You'll see it come back. There's good wheat in it yet."
Paul’s obstinacy and delusion are on display in this response to Ellen. Unable to refute the evidence of the degraded land, he can only insist on having faith in the possibility of future fertility. In retrospect, his words are ironic, as Ellen later criticizes him for focusing only on wheat when the soil needs time to regenerate with more fibrous crops.
"I'll take him again. Such clumsy hands—you don't know how to hold a baby yet. See how his head falls forward on your arm."
By the end of the story, Paul sees clearly and realizes for himself everything that Ellen has been struggling to convince him of. However, this passage illustrates how Ellen, blinded by her own delusion, seems not to know that their child has died. Her casual reprimand of Paul stands in contrast to his mute horror. Ellen does not appear to understand that the baby's head is falling forward because his body has gone limp in death.
"Her eyes all the while were fixed and wide with a curious immobility. It was the window. Standing at it, she had let her forehead press against the pane until her eyes were strained apart and rigid."
Extracted from early in the story, this passage shows Ellen realizing that she cannot close her eyes. Staring out the window into the ominous dust storm has seemingly caused her eyes to remain locked open. Ellen's eyes signify a physical manifestation of both her insight and her delusion: while her eyes have been opened to the truth of her situation, the desire to leave will ultimately drive her mad.
"I'm so caged—if I could only break away and run."
While trying to convince Paul to stay with her in the house, Ellen tells him she feels caged in the house and sometimes wishes she could go out in the storm. This passage foreshadows how Ellen will eventually run into the storm with their baby. However, at the moment, Paul doesn't understand what she is trying to tell him and so he leaves her alone.
"You said tonight we'd see the storm go down. So still now, and a red sky—it means tomorrow will be fine."
As the final line of the story, this passage resonates with a bitterly ironic optimism. It relieves Ellen that the storm has gone away, and she interprets the red sky as boding well for their future. However, the reader understands that their future will involve mourning the death of their child, which Ellen has yet to acknowledge.
